> I like to imagine the possibilities if we stopped spending money on military and instead spent it on research and science.
You'd get conquered and your conqueror would have more money to spend on their military?
And even if you did manage to zero out the military budget without getting conquered, it's completely unreasonable to think that money would be reallocated to "research and science" in a democratic society. Almost all of it would go into stuff like basic infrastructure, social programs, and maybe culture war stuff. While comfortably employed geeks may sit in awe of the pretty space pictures, most people have more quotidian concerns they care far more about.
So the fantasy is really one about a science-enthusiast world-dictator securely protected by his secret police.
You'd get conquered and your conqueror would have more money to spend on their military?
And even if you did manage to zero out the military budget without getting conquered, it's completely unreasonable to think that money would be reallocated to "research and science" in a democratic society. Almost all of it would go into stuff like basic infrastructure, social programs, and maybe culture war stuff. While comfortably employed geeks may sit in awe of the pretty space pictures, most people have more quotidian concerns they care far more about.
So the fantasy is really one about a science-enthusiast world-dictator securely protected by his secret police.