EXCERPT The splitting of the atom that inaugurated the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War made manifest both the power and increasing complexity of science. As the development of technology has intensified humanity’s capacity for destruction, it has also accelerated the pace of decision-making beyond effective human understanding and control. The atomic age exposed not only the fabric of physics, but also the complex weave of human interaction at scales that could not easily be conceptualized by any existing system. Today, the urgency of the cultural and political tension that kept the world in its grip during the Cold War has dissipated, but the fundamental rift between what is and what ought to be has become increasingly irresolvable. This problematic runs through the Cold War/Cold World project…