Golden Globes 2024: The best quotes and lessons from this year’s biggest winners

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”—J Robert Oppenheimer

These words, from the 700-verse Sanskrit scriptural text, Bhagavad Gita, are famously quoted by J Robert Oppenheimer as he witnessed the successful detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945. 

In Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic movie that chronicled the theoretical physicist’s life, we are presented with the chilling reality that the development of the deadly nuclear weapon could result in the obliteration of humanity. Whether Oppenheimer was an evil genius is a separate discussion to be had, but we can see that as a leader, his drive, intellect and charm were a highly persuasive—and frighteningly fatal—combination.

The quote encompasses the moral dilemmas surrounding Oppenheimer’s destructive creation while serving as a reminder of the ethical responsibilities that come with any scientific…