The other day in History class, i was thinking about this.
Humans have had wars for millenniums. We have advanced ourselves to the step where we can travel to other planets, from when we knew nothing of eating fish cooked. It is war, mainly, that drives us forward.
The World War I, for example, was considered the Great War. Although millions/billions suffered from this devistating fight, the human society progressed faster than ever. Tanks, planes, telegraphs (i’m not sure if it was in I or II), chemical weapons, and all sorts of other inventions were discovered and built. Even though the sole purpose of those were to win a battle, they made us move forward, under extreme pressure.
I’m not saying that wars are good morally, and that they should be everywhere. But in a sense, they brought forth on this continent a bucket of geniuses and advanced machinery. Maybe wars are a good thing, in the perspective of human nature?
It’s true that wars provide advanced technology that leads to more than just military RnD (Research and Developpment).
And telegraphs came before WWI. I’d say 1870, which coincidentally is the Franco-Prussian War. There are more examples such as iron was discovered because it was stronger than bronze (bronze swords broke easily in battles).
But this is no wonder. To win, you have to be stronger. To be stronger, you have to have the “edge” technologically speaking (granted, it’s more complicated than that, and technology is not the only factor). To have the edge, you have to put a lot of money into RnD and general science. That leads to great discoveries, but they could have been found in the same amount of time during peace time if only the same amount of money would be put into RnD…
And yes, war is in Human nature, due to man’s egocentricity I guess.
That leads to great discoveries, but they could have been found in the same amount of time during peace time if only the same amount of money would be put into RnD…
Thats it…
When the cold war was on and the US and Russia were trying to out do each other we put men on the moon.
This was done with slide rulers and a space ship that had as much computing power as a kids calculator today.
30 years on and we stuff up probe after probe…
Difference being back then and during war it’s blank checks for everyone…
It’s amazing how conflict spurs the development of technologies that, while they’re initally designed for militaristic purposes, wind up being useful within the public sector in one form or another.
However, conflict spurs change on all levels. Healthy competition invokes people to improve themselves and out do their opponents. When it’s done collectively, more often than not that’s how certain cultures make huge leaps.
… sorry back to topic
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