In the last period, due to Covid-19, an almost irreconcilable rift between the scientific community and the popular masses has manifested in many countries. This was due to a growing mistrust of national populations towards the pharmaceutical industries and the leading personalities who were managing the pandemic crisis. All this is part of an increasingly evident picture of distrust on the part of the popular masses towards the rulers as well as the methods of government. Far from interpreting this phenomenon in a binary way, it is necessary to understand its root causes and analyze the reasons why there are essential differences between the behavior of the populations of different national states. With this speech I want to sketch the idea that the only element that can guarantee a reconciliation between the masses and the scientific community are public institutions, and how distrust of the scientific community is more the result of the disappearance of the "public sphere" in the advanced capitalist countries that of a collective obscurantism.