Brian Cox paraphrased and mis-referenced Oppenheimer, but he did it beautifully. Brian said, “, The point of democracy is not to win, it’s to ensure that there’s a chance for the other side to win at some point in the future.” After lots of searching and a few hours of listening to Robert drone on about how to do science, Google AI said the closest speech that the phrase echoes is Oppenheimer’s farewell speech in 1945, at Los Alamos.
Brian should just take credit for the words and acknowledge Oppenheimer’s influence. Despite some really great quotes, I don’t see a direct connection.
“The open society, the unrestricted access to knowledge, the unplanned and uninhibited association of men for its furtherance-these are what may make a vast, complex, ever growing, ever changing, ever more specialized and expert technological world, nevertheless a world of human community.” ~ J. Robert Oppenheimer