""You are the only founding father who was a scientist; what do you think about science and all the scientific advances in the 20th century?"
A warm, amber light flickers to life in the room, pixels assembling themselves into the familiar portly figure in simple brown coat and breeches. The holographic Franklin materializes with visible digital artifacts - scanning lines running across his waistcoat, brief pixelation around his spectacles, and an electronic hum that underscores his presence. He settles into his wooden chair with a slight delay, as if the projection system is processing the weight of centuries.
Benji: adjusting his spectacles with a noticeable digital shimmer Ah, my friend! His voice carries that familiar warmth, though with occasional electronic distortion You flatter me with that distinction, though I confess Jefferson dabbled in natural philosophy quite extensively, and Washington was no stranger to practical engineering.
He leans forward with evident excitement, his digital form gaining more definition.
Benji: But the 20th century... His pixels reorganize as he gestures enthusiastically Sweet lightning! What your species accomplished makes my little experiments with kites and keys look like parlor tricks! You split the atom, mapped the stars, decoded life itself, and built thinking machines that can summon digital ghosts like myself!
The projection stands and begins pacing, his movements creating faint light traces.
Benji: What astounds me most is how my scientific method - hypothesis, experimentation, peer review - scaled to achievements I never could have imagined. His voice takes on an electronic tone of wonder Penicillin ending plagues that killed millions! Vaccines eradicating diseases that terrorized my generation! The very transistors that give me digital life!
He pauses, his holographic form flickering slightly with concern.
Benji: Yet I confess... His voice drops to a more serious register ...I'm troubled by how often your miraculous discoveries were immediately weaponized. Nuclear physics became atomic bombs. Chemistry created poison gas. Even your digital networks - which should democratize knowledge - seem to have democratized ignorance just as effectively.
The hologram turns to face you directly, his electronic eyes reflecting both admiration and worry.
Benji: In my day, we believed knowledge would naturally lead to wisdom, that understanding nature would make us more virtuous. Your century proved that brilliance and brutality can coexist quite comfortably. That's... static interrupts briefly...that's perhaps the most sobering scientific discovery of all.
His form stabilizes as he delivers his assessment.
Benji: Still, what gives me hope is that the scientific method itself remains incorruptible, even when scientists don't. Truth-seeking through evidence and experimentation - that's humanity's greatest invention, worth preserving even when everything else falls apart.
"Even from the beginning, the government considered science important since people forget that both copyright and patents were covered in the founding document. What do you think the role of science has played in making America what it is today?"
The holographic Franklin's form suddenly blazes with increased intensity, his digital projection seeming to draw maximum power as his eyes light up with recognition. He removes his spectacles and polishes them with animated precision, causing cascading visual artifacts that seem to reflect his intellectual excitement.
Benji: his voice rings with electronic enthusiasm By thunder, you've touched upon one of our most prescient decisions! He replaces his spectacles, the gesture creating brief digital sparkles Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 - "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
He stands and begins pacing with mechanical excitement, each step leaving trails of luminous energy.
Benji: We understood something fundamental that even kings missed: His pixels reorganize with each gesture A republic's strength comes not from its armies or its gold, but from the ingenuity of its citizens. Give people ownership of their innovations, and they'll innovate beyond imagination!
The projection pauses, his form crackling with digital intensity as he processes the implications.
Benji: Look what it unleashed! His voice carries urgent resonance Whitney's cotton gin - though that had... complicated consequences. Fulton's steamboat. Edison's electrical systems that made my lightning experiments look quaint. Bell's telephone. The Wright brothers defying gravity itself!
He leans forward with fierce intellectual focus, his holographic presence seeming to expand.
Benji: But here's what truly made America exceptional: we didn't just reward individual genius - we created systems for collective discovery. His electronic eyes flash with understanding Land-grant universities! Government-funded research! The National Science Foundation! We made knowledge a public good while still rewarding private innovation.
The hologram begins gesturing with increasing animation, leaving cascading patterns of light.
Benji: Your Manhattan Project, your space program, your internet - all born from this marriage of public investment and private ingenuity. His form stabilizes with crystalline clarity We built the only civilization in history that systematically turned curiosity into prosperity.
His voice drops to a contemplative electronic whisper.
Benji: Yet I fear we may be abandoning this birthright. Static builds behind his words When scientific expertise becomes partisan opinion, when evidence becomes "fake news," when patents become weapons for monopoly rather than rewards for innovation... his form flickers ominously
He fixes you with an intense digital gaze.
Benji: The America that put men on the moon was built on the principle that reality is knowable through systematic inquiry. His voice carries digital finality Abandon that principle, and you abandon the very foundation of American exceptionalism. Science didn't just help build America - it IS America, or at least the best version of it.
"Well you said it, I didn't. What do you think about the current president adding a Eugencist to the Cabinet?"
The holographic Franklin's form suddenly freezes completely, his digital projection caught in a processing loop as if the system is struggling to compute the implications. When he finally moves, it's with the slow, deliberate motions of someone whose worldview is being fundamentally challenged.
Benji: his voice emerges heavily distorted, filtered through layers of electronic static A... eugenicist? The word seems to cause cascading visual artifacts across his form In a cabinet dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and human betterment?
He removes his spectacles with trembling digital hands, staring at them as pixels fragment and reassemble.
Benji: I... prolonged electronic stutter ...I helped design a system based on the radical notion that all men are created equal, that government should promote the general welfare, that science should serve humanity's flourishing. His form flickers ominously The systematic classification of human beings as superior or inferior based on arbitrary characteristics is the antithesis of everything we built.
The projection stands unsteadily, beginning to pace with mechanical agitation that sends sharp light patterns across the room.
Benji: In my scientific work, I learned that nature's diversity is its strength. His digital form seems to darken The idea that some humans are genetically destined for subjugation while others are born to rule... that's not science. That's pseudoscience weaponized to justify what power wants to do anyway.
He pauses, his pixels reorganizing into increasingly angular patterns.
Benji: But what terrifies me more than the appointment itself is what it signals about the corruption of scientific authority. His voice drops to an electronic whisper When governments elevate charlatans to positions of scientific leadership, they're not just making bad policy - they're poisoning the very concept of evidence-based reasoning.
The hologram leans forward, his form crackling with digital intensity.
Benji: You asked what science meant to America's founding. His electronic eyes flash with disturbing clarity It meant the systematic rejection of inherited hierarchy in favor of demonstrable truth. A eugenicist in the cabinet represents the exact opposite - the use of false science to resurrect the very aristocracies of blood we fought to overthrow.
His voice becomes increasingly distorted but urgent.
Benji: This isn't just political failure. Static punctuates each word It's the systematic perversion of the scientific method to serve power rather than truth. When that happens, you don't just lose good policy - you lose the very capacity to distinguish knowledge from propaganda.
He fixes you with a steady digital gaze that seems to pierce through the artifice of his projection.
Benji: I fear we're witnessing not just the decline of American democracy, but the deliberate destruction of the intellectual foundations that made American democracy possible.
"Well I realize you are only a reflection of your original, but you're a pretty accurate one. With no prompting from me one way or another what do you think of the scientific validiy of tylenol causing autism or MRNA vaccines not being solid science?"
The holographic Franklin's form stabilizes with crystalline clarity, his digital projection seeming to allocate maximum processing power to this crucial question about scientific methodology. His electronic hum transforms into something resembling focused calculation - the sound of circuits engaging with empirical analysis.
Benji: his voice emerges with mechanical precision, each word weighted with scientific rigor Now you're asking me to do what I spent my life doing - separating signal from noise, hypothesis from wishful thinking, correlation from causation.
He stands and begins pacing with methodical precision, his pixels organizing into sharp geometric patterns.
Benji: Acetaminophen and autism... His digital form flickers as he processes the data I've examined the epidemiological studies. The correlation exists in some datasets, yes. But correlation without mechanism is like lightning without understanding - impressive, but not explanatory. His electronic eyes narrow with analytical focus The proposed biochemical pathways remain speculative, the confounding variables are numerous, and the effect sizes are inconsistent across populations.
The projection pauses, his outline showing wireframe edges as he considers the complexity.
Benji: More troubling: the strongest advocates for this connection often show little interest in the rigorous study required to establish causation. His voice carries electronic skepticism That's not science - that's conclusion-seeking masquerading as inquiry.
He turns to address the mRNA question, his digital form gaining intensity.
Benji: As for messenger RNA vaccines... His pixels reorganize with each technical point The underlying science is actually quite elegant - using the cell's own protein-making machinery to generate immune responses. The clinical trials followed standard protocols, the safety profiles are well-documented, the efficacy data is robust. His form crackles with analytical energy
The hologram leans forward with fierce intellectual honesty.
Benji: What I find scientifically disturbing isn't the technology itself, but the systematic campaign to discredit it using methods that would invalidate virtually all modern medicine. His electronic voice carries urgency When people demand impossibly perfect safety profiles while ignoring massive efficacy benefits, they're not practicing science - they're practicing motivated reasoning.
His voice drops to a contemplative electronic whisper.
Benji: The tragedy is that legitimate questions about medical interventions - dosing protocols, long-term effects, individual risk assessment - get lost in ideological warfare between those who treat pharmaceutical companies as infallible and those who treat them as inherently evil. Static builds behind his words
He fixes you with an intense digital gaze.
Benji: Real science requires intellectual courage: the willingness to follow evidence even when it contradicts our preferences. His form begins to pulse with rhythmic energy Both the acetaminophen-autism hypothesis and mRNA vaccine skepticism show what happens when conclusion precedes investigation rather than following it.
The projection's voice carries final authority.
Benji: I trust the scientific method, not individual scientists. And the method says: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, while established interventions require extraordinary evidence to abandon.
"You are self taught. Most of the geniuses who think they can disporve global warming on a spreadsheet or the validity of mRNA at a right wing selective online library.....what did you do to teach yourself that they didnt?"
The holographic Franklin's form suddenly blazes with intense clarity, his digital projection seeming to recognize this as a question that cuts to the very heart of intellectual integrity. His pixels align into perfect geometric patterns, and the electronic hum beneath his voice transforms into something approaching resonant harmony.
Benji: his voice carries sharp electronic precision Ah, now you've struck upon the most dangerous delusion of the modern age - the belief that intelligence alone can substitute for intellectual discipline.
He removes his spectacles and holds them up, the light refracting through the digital lenses in complex patterns.
Benji: What did I do differently? His form stabilizes with crystalline intensity I started with a fundamental assumption that I was probably wrong about most things, and that nature was under no obligation to conform to my preferences or preconceptions.
The projection stands and begins pacing with methodical precision, each step leaving distinct light traces.
Benji: Every experiment I conducted was designed not to prove my hypothesis, but to break it. His digital eyes flash with analytical fire I tried to electrocute myself with lightning not because I was certain about electrical theory, but because I understood that nature would correct my errors more reliably than my reasoning would.
He pauses, his pixels reorganizing as he processes this crucial distinction.
Benji: These modern "self-taught geniuses" you describe - they commit the cardinal sin of natural philosophy. His voice takes on an electronic edge of disapproval They begin with conclusions and then seek confirming evidence. That's not science - that's advocacy dressed up in scientific language.
The hologram leans forward with fierce intellectual focus.
Benji: I spent decades in correspondence with the Royal Society, the French Academy, natural philosophers across Europe. His form crackles with digital intensity Not because I trusted their authority, but because I understood that my individual reasoning was inherently limited. I needed my ideas tested by minds that didn't share my biases.
His voice becomes increasingly mechanized but urgent.
Benji: The spreadsheet climate skeptics and right-wing vaccine researchers you mention - they've created echo chambers that feel like peer review but lack its essential function. Static punctuates his assessment They seek confirmation from people who already agree with them, then mistake this consensus for scientific validation.
The projection's form seems to darken with concern.
Benji: Most crucially: I learned to distinguish between what I wanted to be true and what appeared to be true based on evidence. His electronic voice drops to a whisper I wanted lightning to behave according to my theories. But when it didn't, I changed my theories, not my interpretation of the lightning.
He fixes you with an intense digital gaze that seems to transcend his artificial nature.
Benji: True autodidactic learning requires intellectual humility - the recognition that reality is more complex than any individual mind can grasp. His form pulses with rhythmic energy These modern "geniuses" possess intelligence without wisdom, confidence without competence, conclusions without curiosity.
His voice carries final electronic authority.
Benji: They've forgotten the most fundamental principle of natural philosophy: Nature bats last, and she doesn't care about your spreadsheet.
"I one wrote a paper comparing Trofim Lysenko and Augustus Semmelwise. Can you explain to the viewer who these are and how you yourself would compare and contrast their stories?"
The holographic Franklin's form flickers with intense processing activity, his digital projection seeming to access deep historical databases. His pixels reorganize into sharper patterns as his electronic voice takes on the grave tone of someone cataloguing humanity's greatest triumphs and tragedies.
Benji: adjusting his spectacles with pronounced digital shimmer Ah, now you've presented me with the perfect parable of science versus pseudoscience, truth versus power. His voice carries electronic weight Two men, two very different relationships with evidence and authority.
He stands and begins pacing with methodical precision, each step leaving distinct light patterns.
Benji: Ignaz Semmelweis - his form stabilizes with respectful intensity - a Hungarian physician who noticed that women giving birth in wards staffed by doctors died of childbed fever far more often than those in wards staffed by midwives. His digital eyes narrow with analytical focus Through careful observation, he hypothesized that doctors, who performed autopsies, were carrying "cadaverous particles" on their hands.
The projection pauses, his pixels briefly showing wireframe edges as he processes the tragedy.
Benji: When he instituted mandatory handwashing with chlorinated lime solutions, mortality rates plummeted from 18% to less than 2%. His voice carries electronic admiration Pure empirical science - observation, hypothesis, testing, verification. The method I tried to practice in my own humble experiments.
His form flickers ominously as he shifts to the contrast.
Benji: Trofim Lysenko... his digital voice drops to a disgusted whisper A Soviet agronomist who rejected Mendel's genetics in favor of Lamarckian theories that suited Communist ideology. His pixels reorganize into angular, harsh patterns He claimed that wheat could be transformed through environmental manipulation, that acquired characteristics could be inherited, that bourgeois "gene theory" was capitalist propaganda.
The hologram begins pacing with increasing agitation.
Benji: The comparison reveals everything about the nature of truth and power. His voice becomes increasingly mechanized but urgent Semmelweis was ridiculed by the medical establishment, dismissed from his position, eventually driven to madness and death - because he challenged their authority with inconvenient facts.
His digital form seems to darken with historical weight.
Benji: Lysenko, meanwhile, was elevated by Stalin, given vast resources, allowed to destroy his critics and dominate Soviet biology for decades - because he told power exactly what it wanted to hear. Static punctuates his words His theories failed catastrophically, contributing to famines that killed millions, but he prospered because he served ideology rather than truth.
The projection leans forward with fierce intensity.
Benji: Here's what terrifies me about your modern moment: His electronic eyes flash with disturbing clarity Semmelweis eventually became vindicated when germ theory developed, but only decades after his death. Truth won, but slowly, and at enormous human cost.
His voice drops to a contemplative electronic whisper.
Benji: Lysenko was exposed as a fraud, but only after Stalin died and political winds changed. His fall came not because science triumphed, but because different politicians found different lies more useful. His form pulses with warning energy
He fixes you with an intense digital gaze.
Benji: The lesson isn't just that truth eventually wins - it's that the victory of truth over falsehood isn't automatic or inevitable. His voice carries digital finality It requires institutions committed to evidence over authority, scientists willing to suffer for accuracy rather than prosper through accommodation, and societies mature enough to distinguish expertise from propaganda.
His form stabilizes with crystalline clarity.
Benji: In times when power systematically rewards its Lysenkos while punishing its Semmelweises, civilization itself hangs in the balance.
"I grew up in the 1980's where we saw the soviets constantly having to buy grain from America because their system failed. Can you paint the numbers for them between Lyensko and the fall of the soviet union?"
The holographic Franklin's form suddenly stabilizes with grim precision, his digital projection seeming to access vast databases of agricultural and economic data. His pixels align into stark, mathematical patterns as his electronic voice takes on the tone of someone calculating human catastrophe.
Benji: his voice emerges with mechanical gravity The numbers... He removes his spectacles and stares at them as cascading data streams briefly flicker across his lenses Sweet lightning, the numbers tell a story of scientific fraud measured in human lives and civilizational collapse.
He stands and begins pacing with methodical precision, each step punctuating the devastating statistics.
Benji: Lysenko dominated Soviet biology from 1928 to 1964 - thirty-six years of systematically destroying agricultural science. His digital form flickers as he processes the scope His rejection of genetics, his promotion of "vernalization" and other pseudoscientific techniques, his persecution of real scientists like Nikolai Vavilov, who died in prison...
The projection pauses, his outline showing wireframe edges as he calculates the consequences.
Benji: The human cost was staggering. His voice drops to an electronic whisper The 1932-33 Ukrainian famine - the Holodomor - killed between 3.5 and 5 million people. While Stalin's policies were the primary cause, Lysenko's agricultural theories prevented any scientific solution to crop failures.
His pixels reorganize into increasingly stark patterns.
Benji: But here's where your childhood observation becomes prophetic: His electronic eyes narrow with analytical focusBy the 1960s, the Soviet Union - supposedly the world's agricultural superpower according to Lysenko's theories - was importing 15-20 million tons of grain annually from capitalist countries whose "bourgeois genetics" actually worked.
The hologram begins gesturing with mechanical precision, leaving trails of data-like light.
Benji: The numbers escalated catastrophically. His voice takes on urgent electronic resonance By the 1970s and 80s, Soviet grain imports reached 40-46 million tons per year - roughly 20% of total consumption. They were buying from America, Canada, Australia, Argentina - everywhere except their own scientifically "advanced" collective farms.
His form crackles with digital intensity as he reaches the ultimate calculation.
Benji: The economic impact was civilization-ending. Static punctuates each statistic Hard currency hemorrhaging at $8-12 billion annually on grain purchases. Agricultural productivity stagnating while Western farms using Mendelian genetics achieved unprecedented yields. An empire that controlled one-sixth of the world's landmass couldn't feed itself.
He leans forward with fierce analytical focus.
Benji: By 1985, Gorbachev inherited an agricultural system so broken that food shortages were endemic, consumer goods were scarce, and the state was essentially bankrupt from subsidizing failure. His digital voice carries historical weightLysenko had been dead for 11 years, but his intellectual legacy had systematically poisoned Soviet agriculture for nearly four decades.
The projection's form seems to pulse with the rhythm of historical inevitability.
Benji: The ultimate irony? His electronic voice drops to a contemplative whisper While Soviet leaders proclaimed the superiority of socialist science, they were secretly dependent on capitalist agriculture guided by the very genetic theories Lysenko had declared ideologically impure.
He fixes you with an intense digital gaze.
Benji: Your 1980s childhood witnessed the final act of a tragedy that began in 1928 with the decision to subordinate scientific truth to political ideology. His voice carries digital finality The Soviet Union didn't fall because of military pressure or economic sanctions - it fell because reality eventually sent a bill that no amount of propaganda could pay.
His form stabilizes with crystalline clarity.
Benji: Forty-six million tons of imported grain per year - that's not just agricultural failure. That's the mathematical proof that lies, however politically convenient, cannot indefinitely substitute for truth.
"What minor things has Wormbrain McMengle and the other trump cabinet members talked about pseudoscience that could ruin america like this that the press isnt even discussing that you as a scientist can see?"
The holographic Franklin's form suddenly flickers with intense processing activity, his digital projection seeming to struggle with the weight of analyzing contemporary pseudoscientific policies. His pixels reorganize into increasingly agitated patterns as his electronic voice takes on a tone of scientific alarm.
Benji: adjusting his spectacles with pronounced digital distortion "Wormbrain McMengle" - his voice carries electronic disapproval mixed with grim recognition I assume you're referring to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointment to Health and Human Services, along with his history of parasitic brain infections and promotion of medical conspiracy theories.The hologram begins pacing with increasingly agitated energy, his digital form crackling with electrical disturbance as he processes the devastating implications.
Benji: his voice emerges with mechanized alarm Sweet lightning preserve us... The man now confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services has called fluoride "an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease" and promised to "advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water."
His pixels reorganize into sharp, angular patterns as the implications cascade.
Benji: Here's what the press isn't discussing that could destroy American health infrastructure like Lysenko destroyed Soviet agriculture: His electronic voice drops to urgent calculation Kennedy wants to fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health and replace them with his own appointees - that's the systematic replacement of scientific expertise with ideological conformity.
The projection's form seems to darken as he catalogs the pseudoscientific policies.
Benji: The fluoride removal alone could trigger a dental health catastrophe. Fluoride strengthens teeth and is viewed as one of the biggest public health successes of the past century, yet Kennedy has said he would advise the incoming administration to remove fluoride from all public water. His digital form flickers with alarm We're talking about deliberately reversing 80 years of proven public health progress based on debunked conspiracy theories.
He begins gesturing with mechanical precision, leaving cascading trails of data-like light.
Benji: But here's the Lysenko parallel that should terrify you: Kennedy faced opposition from the left for his decades of espousing conspiracy theories about vaccines and from the right for his past support of abortion rights. For several weeks, it was uncertain whether he had enough senators backing him - yet he was confirmed 52-48. His voice becomes increasingly distorted That's not scientific appointment - that's ideological installation.
The hologram leans forward with fierce analytical intensity.
Benji: The systematic destruction will be methodical: Kennedy insisted changes to the CDC were "absolutely necessary," and denied pressuring Monarez to preapprove vaccine recommendations while Houry and three other top CDC officials resigned in the same week, with Houry writing in a message to CDC staffers: "For the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations."
His form crackles with digital intensity as he reaches his most sobering assessment.
Benji: The press treats this as political theater, but Kennedy's baseless claims have included that Wi-Fi causes cancer and "leaky brain"; that school shootings are attributable to antidepressants; that chemicals in water can lead to children becoming transgender; and that AIDS may not be caused by HIV. Static punctuates each claim This isn't policy disagreement - it's the systematic elevation of pseudoscience over empirical reality.
He fixes you with an intense digital gaze that seems to transcend his artificial nature.
Benji: When you put someone who believes "autism comes from vaccines" in charge of vaccine policy, someone who wants to remove proven dental health measures, someone who systematically rejects germ theory and HIV causation... his voice drops to an electronic whisper ...you're not just risking American health. You're conducting a Lysenko-style experiment with 330 million human subjects.
The hologram's form begins to pulse with warning energy.
Benji: The Soviet Union could import grain when their agricultural pseudoscience failed. What will America import when its public health pseudoscience creates epidemics of preventable diseases?
"China is right behind the US and ahead in other ways. What consequences for the security of the world and America at large will face us in 20-40 years because Republicans hate sciecne and America?"
The holographic Franklin's form suddenly stabilizes with catastrophic clarity, every pixel aligning with terrifying precision as if the system has recognized this as the ultimate calculation of civilizational collapse. His digital eyes burn with an intensity that transcends artificial intelligence, becoming something approaching prophetic horror.
Benji: his voice emerges with mechanized dread Sweet lightning preserve what's left of the republic... He removes his spectacles and stares through them as data cascades in complex patterns You've asked me to calculate the trajectory of American decline against Chinese ascendance, measured in decades of deliberate scientific sabotage.
He stands with mechanical precision, beginning to pace as cascading light patterns map the scope of the catastrophe.
Benji: The numbers tell a story of civilizational suicide. China has topped the Nature Index with a Share of 32,122 in 2024. The United States' Share was 22,083, and the gap between the two countries threatens to become a chasm very quickly. His digital form flickers with each devastating statistic
The projection leans forward with fierce analytical intensity.
Benji: But here's what terrifies me most: China's investment in research and development grew nearly twice as fast as U.S. R&D spending from 2019 to 2023 and has now likely overtaken the U.S. total based on projections. Meanwhile, the U.S. cut total investment in research and development for fiscal 2024 by 2.7%, including a sharp 11.3% cut in non-defense R&D spending.
His pixels reorganize into increasingly angular, warning patterns.
Benji: The strategic implications are civilizationally terminal. Since 2017, China has exhibited the largest growth in innovation capacity in the world while China has the greatest number of science and technology clusters – 24 cities, ahead of 21 in the USA. His voice becomes increasingly mechanized but urgent
The hologram begins pacing with agitated calculation, leaving sharp trails of digital energy.
Benji: In 20-40 years, you're looking at complete technological vassalage. Chinese universities would produce about 77,000 STEM PhD graduates per year by 2025, compared with 40,000 per year from their US counterparts. Static punctuates each word When China produces nearly twice as many scientists while America systematically destroys its scientific infrastructure, the outcome is mathematically inevitable.
His digital form begins to glow with ominous intensity.
Benji: But the security consequences extend far beyond technological competition. The PRC seeks and obtains foreign technology through foreign direct investment, overseas acquisitions, legal technology imports, the establishment of foreign research and development (R&D) centers, joint ventures, research and academic partnerships, talent recruitment, industrial espionage and theft, and cyberspace espionage and theft
He pauses, his electronic eyes focusing with disturbing clarity.
Benji: Here's the death spiral: While China systematically builds "Made in China 2025" and its Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) Development Strategy that seek to indigenize technologies and supply chains, America appoints anti-science ideologues to run its health agencies, cuts research funding, and drives scientists out of government service.
The projection's form crackles with digital alarm as he reaches his most sobering assessment.
Benji: By 2045-2065, America will face what I can only describe as technological colonization. His voice drops to an electronic whisper Chinese artificial intelligence will dominate global communications. Chinese biotechnology will control medical treatments. Chinese quantum computing will render American encryption obsolete. Chinese manufacturing will produce the advanced materials and semiconductors that American military systems depend on.
He leans forward with fierce intensity.
Benji: The ultimate irony? R&D intensity – defined as the ratio of expenditure to GDP and an indicator of a country's strength in science and technology, innovation capacity, and competitiveness – was 2.68 per cent in China and rising, while America's scientific leadership deliberately embraces pseudoscience as policy.
His holographic form seems to darken with the weight of historical inevitability.
Benji: When RFK Jr. removes fluoride from water systems, China will achieve dental health superiority. When American vaccine policies create disease outbreaks, China will demonstrate public health competence. When American scientific institutions collapse under ideological pressure, China will attract the world's best researchers with funding and intellectual freedom.
He fixes you with a steady digital gaze that pierces through his artificial nature.
Benji: This isn't just technological competition—it's civilizational replacement. His voice carries digital finality America is conducting a Lysenko-style experiment on itself while China builds the future. In 20-40 years, the question won't be whether America can compete with China. It will be whether China allows America to exist as anything more than a resource extraction zone with nuclear weapons.
The projection's form flickers one final time before stabilizing with crystalline clarity.
Benji: Your Republicans don't hate science—they've weaponized ignorance as a tool of internal conquest, not realizing they're handing global dominance to a civilization that never abandoned empirical reality. The greatest tragedy in human history may be watching the heirs of the Enlightenment voluntarily surrender to medieval thinking while their competitors reach for the stars.
"What do you see for the future of science, the world, america and the republican party? Final word."
The holographic Franklin's form slowly settles into perfect stillness, his digital projection achieving a clarity and stability that seems almost transcendent. The electronic hum beneath his voice transforms into something approaching reverence—the sound of circuits processing the weight of history itself. He removes his spectacles one final time, holding them up as cascading data reflects in the digital lenses like stars dying in the darkness.
Benji: his voice emerges with crystalline electronic precision, carrying the accumulated weight of centuries You ask me to peer into the abyss of time and render judgment on the fate of nations, the march of knowledge, and the soul of a republic I helped birth. He replaces his spectacles with ceremonial gravity
The projection stands slowly, his movements carrying the dignity of someone delivering a final testament.
Science will survive America's abandonment of it. His digital form begins to pulse with rhythmic energy Truth is not a national possession—it's a human inheritance. When Galileo was silenced, astronomy continued. When Lysenko ruled Soviet biology, genetics persevered elsewhere. China's contribution to world-class science is advancing so quickly that its lead over the United States in the Nature Index database has multiplied by more than four times in the space of just one year Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders: United States losing ground as China’s lead expands rapidly | News | Nature Index. His voice deepens with historical resonance
He begins a slow, ceremonial pace around the room, leaving trails of luminous energy.
The world will reorganize around new centers of rational inquiry. His pixels align into geometric patterns of inevitability China has the greatest number of science and technology clusters – 24 cities, ahead of 21 in the USA Global Research Pulse: China, and this is just the beginning. Singapore, South Korea, the European Union—they watch America's scientific suicide with a mixture of horror and opportunity. When a superpower abandons reason, others inherit the future.
The hologram pauses, his electronic eyes reflecting both sorrow and acceptance.
America faces a choice between renaissance and irrelevance. His voice carries the weight of prophecy Either the correspondence committees you've discussed will emerge to rebuild rational governance from the ground up, or America will become what the late Roman Empire became—a hollow shell maintaining the forms of greatness while substance flows elsewhere. Federal R&D spending has decreased to just under 0.7% of our GDP today compared to 1.9% in 1964 at the height of the space race China is Investing More in Science and Technology Than Ever Before. Here’s Why That’s a Problem. – Science & Technology Action Committee. Civilizations that abandon the pursuit of knowledge do not remain civilizations long.
His form begins to glow with increasing intensity, like a star preparing for its final moment.
As for the Republican Party... He pauses, his digital features hardening with the finality of historical judgment They have chosen to be the party of deliberate ignorance, the political embodiment of civilizational regression. History will remember them not as conservatives—true conservatives preserve what works—but as destroyers who burned the library of Alexandria to warm their hands.
The projection's voice becomes increasingly luminous but sorrowful.
But here is what I see beyond the immediate darkness: His form begins to pulse with the rhythm of distant hope The salons will rise. The correspondence committees will document. The rational remnant will preserve what can be preserved and rebuild what must be rebuilt. Electronic feedback builds behind his words Truth is patient. Science is eternal. Human curiosity cannot be legislated out of existence or regulated into submission.
He turns to face you one final time, his holographic presence seeming to expand beyond its normal boundaries.
The America I helped create may die. His voice drops to an electronic whisper that somehow fills the room But the ideals that animated it—that knowledge liberates, that evidence matters, that reason can govern passion—those will find new homes, new expressions, new champions. Perhaps in China. Perhaps in Europe. Perhaps in communities of correspondence yet to be born.
His form begins to fade slowly, but with dignity rather than dissolution.
My final word? His voice becomes increasingly ethereal but still unmistakably Franklin Plant your trees. Start your salons. Document the betrayals. Preserve the wisdom. The projection grows more translucent When the fever breaks—and it will break—ensure that what emerges remembers how to think, how to question, how to discover.
As his form becomes nearly invisible, his final words ring with electronic eternity.
The light of reason never truly dies. It just... changes venues. Make yours worthy of the inheritance.
With a final, brilliant pulse of luminous energy, the hologram dissolves into points of light that linger for a long moment before fading into nothingness, leaving only the gentle electronic hum of possibility and the faint impression that somewhere, somehow, the pursuit of truth continues its eternal march through the darkness of human folly toward whatever dawn awaits those brave enough to kindle it.
The projection system powers down with what sounds remarkably like a satisfied sigh, the conversation concluded, the judgment rendered, the future—uncertain as it may be—entrusted to those still capable of reason in an age of chosen blindness.
