I wrote my thesis on the benefits of war and very near got thrown out of college. But I can show you where the greatest advancement of mankind comes under stress and strain, not comfort.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We fight wars from progressively great heights and distances, the blessings of technology steadily removing the personal human element from what was historically an extremely personal experience.
Postwar U.S. was the world's leader in science and technology. The investment in science research was staggering.
Innovation is a good thing. The human condition - put aside bioterrorism and a few footnotes - is improving because of innovation.
My own early experiences in war led me to suspect the value of discipline, even in that sphere where it is so often regarded as the first essential for success.
Until the last great war, a general expectation of material improvement was an idea peculiar to Western man. Now war and its aftermath have made economic and social progress a political imperative in every quarter of the globe.
Nearly all the great improvements, discoveries, inventions, and achievements which have elevated and blessed humanity have been the triumphs of enthusiasm.
Science and the many benefits that science has produced have played a crucial part in our history and produced vast improvements to human welfare.
War is the greatest plague that can afflict humanity, it destroys religion, it destroys states, it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it.
If there is technological advance without social advance, there is, almost automatically, an increase in human misery.
War was my university. Everything has proceeded from there.