29 - Science, Technology, and War

Summary

Hephaestus, arms maker to the gods, was the only deity with a physical disability. Lame and deformed, he caricatured what his own handiwork could do to the human body. Not until the later twentieth century, however, did his heirs and successors attain the power to inflict such damage on the whole human race. Nuclear weapons lent salience to the long history of military technology. The Cold War contest between the United States and the Soviet Union attracted the most attention and concern, but in the second half of the twentieth century, science and technology transformed conventional warfare as well. Even small states with comparatively modest arsenals found themselves stressed by the growing ties and tensions between science and war.

The relationship between science, technology, and war can be said to have a set of defining characteristics: (1) State funding or patronage of arms makers has flowed through (2) institutions ranging from state arsenals to private contracts. This patronage purchased (3) qualitative improvements in military arms and equipment, as well as (4) large-scale, dependable, standardized production. To guarantee an adequate supply of scientists and engineers, the state also underwrote (5) education and training. As knowledge replaced skill in the production of superior arms and equipment, a cloak of (6) secrecy fell over military technology. The scale of activity, especially in peacetime, could give rise to (7) political coalitions; in the United States these took the form of the military-industrial complex. The scale also imposed upon states significant (8) opportunity costs in science and engineering that were often addressed by pursuit of (9) dual-use technologies. For some scientists and engineers, participation in this work posed serious (10) moral questions.