Governments, Technology, and the Rise of the Warfare State

With every advance in technology also comes a regression, of sorts. When the Agricultural Revolution brought immense change to the world, axes and spears were invented to protect property. As civilizations and populations grew over the years, the gun was eventually invented. And when world superpowers, full of precious ‘cargo’ to protect, scoffed at diplomacy the arms race began. Great technological progress has brought the world to one of two options: 1. the power to create, and 2. the power to destroy. Despite all good intentions, the power to destroy continues to live on.

American society has been and always will be changing. Certain values, notions, and ideals are quite firmly ingrained in the American psyche, and they are far from being completely erased (individualism, republican democracy, and "capitalism"). These are abstract things, however. Ideas are not easily replaced, as they typically need a philosophical revolution to do so. Concrete, tangible things, on the other hand, are constantly being added and taken from American society. Ford’s Model T, "The Lawrence Welk Show," the 8-track tape, and Levi Jeans were, and still are, emblematic of American society. However, their heyday was over long ago. The Hummer is the new Model T, American Idol the new "Lawrence Welk Show," the iPod the new 8-track tape, and a flashy $200 pair of jeans the new pair of Levi’s. All of this seems and is a great step forward.  Things became available to the masses and no longer just the elite. And they worked much better, too. All of this progress masked a tragic phenomenon: the progression of weapons technology and the regression of human interaction.