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Weapon inventors usually have no control once the weapon is sold. Richard Gatling thought he was making war more decisive and thus more necessary to avoid. He d
by kevinmchugh 9y ago
Weapon inventors usually have no control once the weapon is sold. Richard Gatling thought he was making war more decisive and thus more necessary to avoid. He didn't anticipate machine guns being deployed against indigenous people defending against colonizers, nor did he anticipate the New York Times turning his gun on a riot.
- pm90 9y agoPrecisely. Also: Alfred Nobel, and many physicists who worked on the atomic bomb, including Oppenheimer. Its a difficult question and its sad to see how technology created originally for benefiting humanity can sometimes be re purposed for its destruction. In a world where sovereign nations are not bound by arms restrictions though, its hard to see how this endless march of destruction can be stopped. The SALT and other arms-reduction treaties b/w the US and erstwhile USSR where, IMO, a very good compromise. I find it hard to do something similar in the future if we continue to have dysfunctional administrations governing the US though.
- philwelch 9y ago> and many physicists who worked on the atomic bomb, including Oppenheimer After 1945 (arguably 1953 at the latest), there were absolutely no direct wars between any two major powers. Nuclear weapons did make war too destructive to ever risk.