> If not for the fact that the US&USSR were working like mad to find a way to destroy one-another, the cold war + space race was great for advancement of scienc

> If not for the fact that the US&USSR were working like mad to find a way to destroy one-another, the cold war + space race was great for advancement of science. Armed conflict or the threat of it has been the driver for a big percentage of the advancements in science, ever since Archimedes. Some posit that one of the main reasons Europe became the seat of scientific advancement after about the 15th century was because of the frequent wars between its many nations. Certainly nuclear technology and the physics underlying it were advanced rapidly because of WWII, just as space tech blossomed with all the money thrown at it during the Cold War. Now the war has gone mostly underground and involves advances in surveillance, psychological control of entire populations, and AI. Not a shot fired, with worse results for everyone compared to the Cold War since there's no scenario where the victor relinquishes control of its population. Further, most of the control is held by essentially unaccountable private firms rather than (at least somewhat) accountable governments. But please feel free to continue to believe it's just about serving ads and selling shit to an audience, while making everyone's life more convenient with self-driving cars and the like. Perhaps I'm just a nutter.