The manufacture of weapons, which goes far back into prehistoric times, had originally two purposes of about equal importance: namely, war and hunting. It is not known at what stage our ancestors became meat-eaters, but it is obvious that even the most primitive weapons made it easier to kill animals for meat than it had been. As time went on, the importance of weapons in war came to outweigh their importance in hunting, and, from the time of Archimedes to the present day, improvement in weapons of war has been the main incentive to scientific progress.
Source：Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, part II: The Conflict of Passions, chapter 7: Religious Faith Cure Our Troubles ? n17
More info.：https://russell-j.com/cool/47T-2_0717.htm
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In the primitive era, when even wooden spears did not exist, humanity likely trembled in fear of attacks by wild beasts. However, as hunting tools improved?from wooden spears to stone-tipped spears and eventually metal ones?people gradually became free from such fears and anxieties.
Had the development of these tools remained limited to hunting, peace would have prevailed. However, these tools were not only used for hunting but also became weapons for conflict, eventually evolving into weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear arms.
Yet, the advancement of weaponry also became a major driving force behind scientific progress. Thus, scientific progress has both a dark side (a shadowed side) and a bright side (an illuminated side). Today, AI and robotics (in other words, AI-robot technology) are developing rapidly, raising concerns about whether humans will be able to maintain control over them. No matter how advanced AI becomes, when multiple options exist, the ultimate decision must still be made by humans (primarily politicians). If poor choices are made, humanity could face great calamities.
Issues such as genetic engineering, gender selection at birth, the treatment of individuals born with disabilities, climate change, food shortages, and many other complex problems confront us. Some people envision a bright future, while others foresee a dystopia. Even something like the Osaka Expo receives completely opposite evaluations.
Given my age, I will not live to see whether a bright future arrives or a dystopia emerges. Since there is nothing I can do about it, I might as well leave it to future generations and spend my remaining days in peace.
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