Technological Advancments

I was thinking the other day about all the technological advancments that have been made because of wars.

Take the jet engine.. in say 1943 they had properlller planes and in the 50's they had the english electric lightining.

Also the cold war, for example the moon landings. i think that showed everyone that if theres enough money and political backing, anything is possible!!!

I think that after the cold war, well after air forces no longer carried nukes and it went to the navy, that progress on new fighters and bombers hasn't really advanced much..

Thats just my opinion. It makes me wonder though, if there hadn't have been all these wars what would the world be like today? I mean would there be fighters like the F-22 or the F117.

Or would we still have propeller planes?

Im not saying war is good, because it's not, and in the end no one really wins, but i think most of the things we use on a day to day basis, like computers and even flying across the atlantic in a matter of hours wouldn't be possible if there hadn't been any wars.

I'd be interested to hear what opinions everyone else has on this.

[edit on 1-12-2005 by clashrock]

War has been the mother of invention. I doubt we would have advanced NEARLY as fast as we did without it. We'd still have jets by now, and other things, but not nearly as advanced as they are today IMO.

If there hadn't been any wars would we even be flying in anything other than hang gliders for sport?

I reckon we would all be living in the same way as those 'villages' that always get visited in Startgate SG1 where the women all carry baskets of hay on their shoulders

Originally posted by waynos
If there hadn't been any wars would we even be flying in anything other than hang gliders for sport?

I reckon we would all be living in the same way as those 'villages' that always get visited in Startgate SG1 where the women all carry baskets of hay on their shoulders

Yeh! i can imagine it may have been like that. It's quite disturbing though, how war brings out the best in mankind.

If there were no wars, there never would have been a reason to advance from bronze to iron when humanity did. It would have come muuuuuuch later. You're looking at modern invention, but the same cycle happened in ancient war. It progressed far slower than it does today, but developments were primarily made for war, then applications for peaceful use were discovered. Without wars to spur necessity, we would probably still be living in either the stone or bronze age.

"Mankind has grown strong in eternal struggles and it will only perish though eternal peace"

Believe it or not, Hitler said that, but true, i believe!

Medevac Helicopters, Trauma Units and Medical Telemetry Units are just some of the advances made because of wars. When things finally got going after Katrina hit, look at all of the helos with rescue hoists picking up people from the rooftops. Almost all Navy helos have hoists because of the need to rescue downed pilots.

I think we need to remember that the Wright Bros. created flight out of peace... and later had to pursuade the government there was military potential.

There are many cases where the technology was already created before and not for military applications, but it took War to accelerate development of the technology.

It amazes me how advanced German technology and concepts were durring WWII. What can we do to inspire the same advancements today without being fueled by war?

Originally posted by rmatrem
It amazes me how advanced German technology and concepts were durring WWII. What can we do to inspire the same advancements today without being fueled by war?

Put simply, we cannot. R&D expenditure in war time is far and away above any current spend at the moment.

Costs become a (distant) secondary object to performance in war, in peace, its quite different.

Not all technology comes from wars. The airplane and the helicopter were both invented in peace time. However, Necessity is the mother of all invention. If you need it bad enough, you find a way to make it work. War often brings out the need. War is often a big driver in technical R&D, but it's not the only factor.

Tim

Originally posted by rmatrem
I think we need to remember that the Wright Bros. created flight out of peace... and later had to pursuade the government there was military potential.

There are many cases where the technology was already created before and not for military applications, but it took War to accelerate development of the technology.

It amazes me how advanced German technology and concepts were durring WWII. What can we do to inspire the same advancements today without being fueled by war?

I think I just said that ghost... but I'm glad you got my back...

Inventiveness is a human trait, but war gives us the impetus to follow things through and get them done quickly. I always think the best example of this is the Gloster aircraft companyin the UK.

In 1939, their most modern plane in military services was the Gladiator (a fixed gear, 4 machine gun biplane) and by the end of the war they were supplying the RAF with the allies first Jet fighter. Can anyone beat that?





[edit on 2-12-2005 by waynos]