• DandomRude@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Yes, that’s right. I recently spoke with five friends of mine who are chief physicians and senior physicians in Spain, Switzerland, and Germany: They all agreed—the U.S. is no longer conducting scientific research; the CDC, which used to be a globally important institution because many countries followed its guidelines, no longer exists, since all competent staff who refused to go along with this absurdity were fired.

      They are appalled at how quickly this decline was orchestrated by the Trump regime, especially since it took decades to reach an international consensus. All of them have lost all trust in U.S. institutions and believe that these inhumane policies will cost hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.

      • bluemellophone@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        The erosion of US soft power is the greatest gift Trump could give to Russia and China, it will take generations to recover, if ever. It’s not a crazy idea to start learning some Chinese if you work in a technical field.

        • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
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          8 hours ago

          Not to be a doomer, but I don’t really expect it to ever fully recover. I can’t really think of any other times in history when an Empire started to nose-dive like this and managed to fully get back to where it was TBH.

        • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          I don’t think Russia plays much of a role here, but yes, absolutely: Trump and his henchmen are, in my opinion, merely accelerating the decline of the U.S.

          This former superpower is clearly on its last legs, as too many resources have been embezzled—as is typical in oligarchies. Therefore, aggression is all that remains for it, since its bloated military apparatus is the only thing left, alongside the IT sector, which is currently dismantling itself for the very same reasons that led to this situation.

          China is also a misanthropic autocracy, but the policies of its leaders are nonetheless far-sighted, forward-looking, and skillful, which is why China is already the superpower that the U.S. once was (albeit it’s glory was bought on credit after WWII).

          Europe’s future, in my view, depends on whether it will be possible to shake off the influence of the U.S. and its disastrous turbo-capitalism. Unfortunately, it does not look that way, because in the strongest European countries, neo-capitalist forces are still at work, whose maxim is now turning into fascism precisely because their approach is no longer competitive in today’s world.

          Either way, dark times are ahead for science—and, consequently, for humanity as well.