# Oppenheimer on democracy **URL:** \ **Category:** Science and Technology\ **Created:** [July 15, 2026, 8:41pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/oppenheimer-on-democracy/12032 "2026-07-15T20:41:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lausten](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/lausten/32/23705_2.png) [@lausten](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/lausten)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 8:41pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/oppenheimer-on-democracy/12032/1 "2026-07-15T20:41:31Z")
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. > **[Oppenheimer's Farewell Speech - Nuclear Museum](https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/key-documents/oppenheimers-farewell-speech/)** > > I think there are issues which are quite simple and quite deep, and which involve us as a group of scientists—involve us more, perhaps than any other group in the world. I think that it can only help to look a little at what our situation is—at what... 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