[extropy-chat] War and technological progress

[Thomas]

BillK wrote:

>On 5/1/07, Thomas wrote:
><snip>
>  
>
>>Not completely off-topic since many of Bush's efforts have worked
>>against the extropian, especially funding war at the expense of medical
>>and technological progress
>>
>
>Not true!
>I have supported the proposition before that war funding vastly
>increases technological and medical developments. Look at all the
>stuff DARPA is funding.
>WWII certainly generated a great leap forward in technology and medicine.
>(The downside, of course, is that war tends to kill a lot of people).
>
>Agreed that Bush has opposed funding some stem cell research, but that
>was on religious grounds, nothing to do with the war funding.
>
>
>BillK
>
That's a good point, but I didn't say all the war funding diminished 
medical and technological progress.  Still, these increased developments 
cannot be vast enough to justify the deaths and the enormous 
disproportion of the allocations.  I doubt this war will prove as 
proportionally fruitful for progress as WWII.  We had much better 
leadership then.  

I say, if we have to have a leader, lets think about how to get a better 
one.  

I just looked at the Cost of War 
<http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182> 
figure: $421 billion and rising!  Over $6 billion of that came from my 
state and over 5 million homes with renewable electricity could have 
been built with that money.1  Instead of a preemptive war on a non 
aggressor nation or a hype "War on Terror" or a "War on Drugs" lets have 
a War on Aging and fund nano research to the tune of $40 billion (one 
tenth the cost of the war) or so for starters.  

Does your general "Not true!" mean you think Bush a good leader for us? 
 Does it mean you think war the best choice for achieving progress? 
 Does it mean you think me seriously wrong or deceitful?  Or do you 
perhaps think Bush impeachable for mixing politics and religion on the 
stem cell issue?  -- Thomas


1. 
http://database.nationalpriorities.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/nppdatabase.woa/1/wo/bHOa5it2urn2Tsu6pQGUow/0.0.1.1.6.1