>>Claudio;
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>Hi, Tom!
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>>From what I have read of the history of flight, the Wright brothers did not set out to create a flying machine for the military. As is true of many technological entities it is the market and where the money is that determines how an invention will be used.
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>yeah, I think this is among thing that I hate the most about humanity: it's always all about the f... money. If I'd be able to invent something that could kill the entire humanity except for a few rich people who could do with the Earth planet whatever they want to, I'd probably be a millionaire now.
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>I just can't stand that line of thinking.
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>>The common toothbrush can be used for a number of things perhaps not intended by the inventor. Making a knife to kill or injure another person (not uncommon in jails in the United States) is another use for a toothbrush.
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>yes, what an object is used for is always up to whoever uses it. But that's different than creating something imediately intended to do war.
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>>Technology for the sake of technology is like opening Pandora’s box. The child like fever of an inventor or technologist is a very selfish thing indeed! Who knows what lies in store for humanity because someone developed or invented “something”? It may have been a good idea at the time but who knows what impact anything will have on humanity! :)
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>Tom, once again, my main point in my original message was the fact that I really get upset thinking that Santos-Dummont has killed himself because he was so depressed with seeing the image of bombs falling off of airplanes, which was the biggest passion of his life. That's sad. I think Einstein felt the same after seeing atomic bombs.


Claudio;

One of my Physics Professors in engineering College knew Einstein, and worked on the Manhattan Project. He told us that Einstein and others understood what was to come if the Atomic Bomb was developed and went to the United States government to ask that such a project not be attempted. Einstein knew well what the physical, political and social implications were and expressed more than concern, about a bomb being made!

As we well know, the Nazis were also attempting to build atomic weapons.

When I left the Air Force in 1967 the United States could destroy the world with atomic weapons 7 1/2 times, and the USSR 4 1/2 times. Recently I heard that we could destroy the world 770 times with our atomic weapons. Things have really gotten better! :)

It does not matter who has the greatest number of weapons or the best invention. Just like marketing - first to market or in this case first to use a weapon can be the winner! A few well chosen sites in the Unites States could destroy our country by using only a handfull (numeriaclly speaking) of atomic weapons. As we buy more oil from Arab nations they pay us back with terrorism.

Tom