The scientific-technological elite Eisenhower warned about six decades ago.

There are many interesting and understated messages from Eisenhower’s Farewell Address in 1961. Everyone knows and endlessly repeats that famous “military-industrial complex” quote from page 15 of the speech. But really very few people picked up on the bit that followed immediately on page 18 about the “scientific-technological elite.” I’ve always wondered why. In fact, I’ve raised this issue multiple times with people I’ve known over the years, and they’ve always fallen silent about it. Actually, it’s a remarkable conversation killer. Try it. Works every time! But what’s the trigger? Is it the science that gets people? Or the elite? Maybe it’s that we can’t question either. But I do.

Also note that Eisenhower didn’t predict this phenomenon. He knew it well because it was reality back then for him too. He ran two of the largest and most complex institutions of his time — the Executive branch of the United States Government as President, and the Allied Forces during World War II as Supreme Commander. That’s a pretty good resume of someone who knew how to manage massive global systems.

So he clearly understood all about institutional science and advanced technology and how elite managers behave at scale. For most of us, though, these concepts were just in their infancy in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. But now all these years later it seems everything’s all grown up! These days elite scientific and technocratic factions pervade systems throughout the Western world. We even have a term for it: “The Managerial Class.” It’s hard not to see this group given how overtly visible they are now. And they also seem to openly embrace extreme policies — war, censorship, mandates, and anything that restricts freedom.

Imagine a young Ike today. Do you think he’d fight back under the current circumstances? Or, instead, would he just comply like so many have been doing in recent years?