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But what is that ”amazing achievement” relative to? We have no frame of reference other than our imaginations. Could we have went to the moon much earlier? If the Cold War didn’t happen would we still have the achievement of landing on the moon or be in space at all like today?

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Relative to all of previous history.

Sure, with all the money saved on military expenses, and countries not drawn into conflicts we'd be a lot farther ahead.

Or we would have more McMansions and reduced biodiversity. It certainly seems that's the typical route a welfare maximizing democracy allocates resources by default.

"Sure, with all the money saved on military expenses, and countries not drawn into conflicts we'd be a lot farther ahead."

I doubt that. Like it or not, military conflicts (and military confrontations such as the Cold War) have produced many of the technological advances that we enjoy today.

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