> Am I supposed to celebrate the spending of untold billions on an unnecessary weapon of death .... It'd be wonderful if it were indeed unnecessary. But the hu

> Am I supposed to celebrate the spending of untold billions on an unnecessary weapon of death .... It'd be wonderful if it were indeed unnecessary. But the human species evolved in an environment where it was adaptive to seek power and dominance. Many individuals, groups, and nations still engage in that quest — even though in time it could lead to a very bad outcome (and might explain the Fermi Paradox [0]). We could, of course, accept that others will achieve superior weaponry and that in due course we'll surrender to them. That doesn't sound so appealing. Unfortunately, the only practicable alternative, at least for now, appears to be to continue to compete in the arms race. It'd doubly unfortunate because there are so many more-constructive things that we'd prefer to spend the money on — if we had the choice. EDIT: An analogy: I live in Houston, very near the Texas Gulf Coast. It'd be great if we didn't have to spend so much money on hurricane- and flood preparation; it's easy to think of better uses for that money. But if we didn't spend the money on hurricane- and flood prep, then we'd risk losing much of what we do have, to forces over which we have no control (at least not in the near term). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox