“Our Friend the Atom”

Walt was a futurist. He loved innovation. That’s why Tomorrowland is a thing; sure, they could get some good sponsors in there, but also he just really loved the idea of the future. In some ways, it’s why the monorail was ideal for him. It’s the train OF THE FUTURE. But one of the things he did with his platform was talk about the things that fascinated him. Goodness knows Walt was hardly the only person in the ‘50s who was fascinated by atomic energy.

Operation Paperclip alumnus Heinz Haber is explaining to us about concepts we should be very very grateful he didn’t fully understand fifteen or twenty years earlier. He takes us back to Ancient Greece, where Democritus developed the concept of the atom, which Aristotle then shot down. We move forward through time, seeing various of the figures who helped develop human understanding of atoms, radiation, and eventually atomic power, leaving out quite a lot of stuff that was done by people opposing the regime Haber had actually volunteered to serve.

The metaphor we use for atomic energy is, of course, the genie in the bottle. He uses the story from Arabian Nights about the fisherman and the genie. It’s a simplified version, wherein he actually does get wishes at the end, but it’s a metaphor so that’s fine. But it’s clear that one of the issues and one of the reasons we’re using it is that one of our wishes is to, you know, not destroy ourselves with our own usage of power. It’s not a bad metaphor, even if you know that in the story the fisherman doesn’t get anything.

The Eisenhower administration actually asked Disney to help teach the public about atomic energy, but you don’t have to know much about Walt to know he was enthusiastic about supporting it. After all, it was until quite recently technically possible for Disney to build their own reactor on the land they own in Florida. Walt loved that kind of thing. There’s a reason Batman: The Animated Series turned him into a psycho obsessed with his ideal community.

Honestly, Disney did some really good educational stuff over the years for the Disneyland show, whichever version of the show you’re watching. Especially when Walt got to play around with his futurist tendencies. The space travel ones are the only ones available on Disney+, but I was able to find this one on YouTube. The title may be hokey as hell, but it’s a pretty decent overview of the history and then-present of atomic energy. They did an update at some point, but I’d love to see one now.