In 2048, information is unchained and even schoolgirls win Nobel prizes

It was significant that this came about as a literal groundswell that moved up through the sector. I remember it started with the younger scientists and researchers who started to coordinate to actively resist being socialised into accepting what they characterised as a deeply patriarchal model of data control that existed under the capitalist model as was. There were voices that progressively undermined its legitimacy by calling out the inherent injustice and the impacts, to the point that institutions found themselves unable to rationally defend the system they were propping up. You have missed out on mentioning the impact that #BLM and #MeToo had nearly 30 years ago in instigating this step-change in justice literacy amongst scientists of that generation. These played a not insubstantial role in empowering more in the sector to tackle the power structures at play. Before that point, critical consciousness was a concept that largely lay outside of STEM, the sector that used to dominate the data hierarchy before the qualitative revolution in contextualisation turned priorities to being more human-centred. The increasing frequency of the spontaneous social justice movements between 2020-2025 democratised the conversation. Individuals throughout more positivist domains began to move away from perceiving their own standpoint and views as objective and neutral, and instead as loaded with social and historical context and inherent power. Once these hidden links that connect humanity were visible to more people, choices and their consequences had a richer meaning, and it enabled us to finally make better decisions for ourselves and the planet. Thank you for this reflective journey on how far we have come since the dark days of 2021.