The arduous path of science, the equalizing power of technology

Science progresses with difficulty, but once it gains momentum, it changes everyone's destiny.

David Hume wrote in 1742: “It is easy to account for the rise of commerce, but it is very difficult to account for the progress of science.” This sentence, spoken nearly three centuries ago, remains valid today. Because commerce is the realm of ambition, competition, and profit. It is fueled by the strongest impulses of human nature. Science, however, is a fragile passion that, in Hume's words, can only influence a very few. Science requires curiosity, patience, and often, solitude. And as Hume reminded us, “curiosity, or the love of knowledge, has a very limited influence, and requires youth, leisure, education, genius, and example to make it govern any person.”

Doing science is difficult because it lives with uncertainty. The scientist does not chase profit; they chase meaning. Their labor is an effort that does not find immediate reward, sometimes remaining silent for a lifetime. As Hume said, the great influence of chance or hidden causes is at the essence of science. Most discoveries are not planned; they are born. Science grows not within order, but often on the edge of chaos.

Yet, strangely enough, the most fragile efforts of science eventually create the most lasting transformations for humanity. We find the most concrete example of this in the words of 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics laureate Joel Mokyr. Mokyr defines technology, the “tangible” product of scientific work, as a “great equalizer.” He describes how mobile phones connect Africa, South Asia, and the remote corners of the world without the need for landline infrastructure: People are now banking, finding jobs, receiving education, and even establishing forms of social organization through their mobile phones.

Science, which was once born from the patience of a handful of people in a few universities and laboratories in Europe, now operates as an equalizing force even in the poorest regions of the world. Science begins with the curiosity of a few, but reaches everyone through the hand of technology.

This situation is one of the most interesting paradoxes of the modern world. Science is an elite pursuit, but the results of technology are mass-market. Science demands silence, while technology makes noise. Science is born from solitude, while technology builds connections. Yet, the bond between them is unbreakable. Because behind every phone line, every digital device, and every satellite lies the curiosity, patience, and the will of those few people to dedicate their leisure time to science. While science investigates the invisible, technology transforms the visible.

Today, the labor of science is being questioned more than ever. Alongside those who despise science—from flat-earthers to anti-vaxxers and anti-evolutionists—ethical questions are growing in every field, from artificial intelligence to gene editing and data science. But Hume’s centuries-old warning still holds true. The role of chance, example, and time in the progress of science is significant. There are few who are curious, but those few change the course of humanity.

And perhaps that is why Mokyr’s optimism is valuable. Yes, science is a slow, fragile, and difficult endeavor. But once it progresses, it turns into a power that can shake even the deepest inequalities of humanity. The fact that a courier delivering food for a restaurant and a billionaire possess the same smartphone may seem like a historically minor detail. But in reality, it is the triumph of hundreds of years of love for knowledge, of that limited but resilient curiosity.

Perhaps the new aphorism of this age is this: Commerce begins with ambition, science with curiosity; but it is always curiosity that changes the world.