When I was doing laser spectroscopy research as an undergrad my prof said there was an informal physics "association" that had taken an oath not to develop anyt

When I was doing laser spectroscopy research as an undergrad my prof said there was an informal physics "association" that had taken an oath not to develop anything like another atomic bomb. He asked if I wanted to join and I said yes. So I certainly see some basis for people being scared of fundamental advances in science and technology and wanting to control and place limits on what is developed. There have been a lot of advances in astrophysics (little potential harm to things here on Earth) and not much research in gravity (big consequences if we could actually control gravity.) That doesn't require "total social control", just a strong influence at key checkpoints (like funding). Whether there is an active effort to reduce investigation in specific areas of science might be discoverable by a meta-analysis of papers showing what areas of research tend to not get funding and see if there is a correlation with the potential for social disruption.