¶ Weapons Technology (1)
← Weapons Technology Sequence | Weapons Technology (2) →
Index Entry
Weapons Technology:
“The high performance technology developed for the production of weapons comes progressively to levels of obsolescence–for instance, the premier type of submarine or airplane finally becomes eclipsed by competition and therefore becomes obsolete. Second grade weapons are worthless. The contractor who has been producing the now obsolete item often finds himself failing to get the next contract for the newer kind of weapon or tool. However, the ex-contractors are tooled up with the powerful high performance technology. They can produce a great deal with very little, i.e., with high performance per pound. For these obvious reasons the ex-government contractors look around in the domestic market to find ways in which to exploit their super technical ability. The ex-government supplier thus brought the dynamo, originally developed exclusively for the battleship, into the city to light man’s streets and the electric lights developed for the battleship came thereafter to replace the candles in our domestic candelabras, but the candelabras were not changed. The domestic economy was never made the comprehensive focus of generalized system theory and the prime beneficiary of scientific knowledge.”
