Before you move on to the next sentence, please, first think of an important person on earth, dead or alive. There is a good chance that you have thought of a scientist (Albert Einstein, Edison, etc.), a musician (Jackson, Lady Gaga, Lopez, etc.), a soccer player (Maradona, Zidane, etc.) or a cinema personality (Hitchcock, Tom Cruise, etc.) These are all, no doubt, good candidates, however, I think that the people who have the real power and are capable of controlling the world are politicians.
Science is of course very important, behind all the technology and our understanding of the world. But again, I would maintain that science people are not as influential as politicians. Imagine a scientist has invented something new. Will it come to the public if some politicians disagree with the new product or idea? It was Einstein who discovered the nuclear power, but it was the politicians in the White House who decided to bomb Hiroshima. Even nowadays, in universities around the world, those projects receive the highest budgets that are backed by politics - the nuclear research in Iran in the past few years; space exploration with its astronomical expenses during the cold war; to mention only few.
Decisions about public health, insurance, a country's energy policies, its trade with other nations, wars, all and all are filtered through politics, and need the politicians' approval to see the light of day.
In sum, politicians can change the world by making important decisions about people's lives and the future of the globe. No matter how much scientists warn about global warming, a real and effective action is taken only if they succeed in persuading the politicians. They have the final say on that in a G8 or so summit: "we are going to cut down carbon emission by 16% by 2020...or not!"
Science is of course very important, behind all the technology and our understanding of the world. But again, I would maintain that science people are not as influential as politicians. Imagine a scientist has invented something new. Will it come to the public if some politicians disagree with the new product or idea? It was Einstein who discovered the nuclear power, but it was the politicians in the White House who decided to bomb Hiroshima. Even nowadays, in universities around the world, those projects receive the highest budgets that are backed by politics - the nuclear research in Iran in the past few years; space exploration with its astronomical expenses during the cold war; to mention only few.
Decisions about public health, insurance, a country's energy policies, its trade with other nations, wars, all and all are filtered through politics, and need the politicians' approval to see the light of day.
In sum, politicians can change the world by making important decisions about people's lives and the future of the globe. No matter how much scientists warn about global warming, a real and effective action is taken only if they succeed in persuading the politicians. They have the final say on that in a G8 or so summit: "we are going to cut down carbon emission by 16% by 2020...or not!"