Very many human endeavors and technology were accelerated/funded by war (including cold wars). Some very recent examples:

- satellites and space travel

- the internet

- GPS

I'm sure we can add many more things to this list. (Please do in reply.)

I don't think it's a contradiction to acknowledge this and at the same time be anti-war, just as it isn't a contradiction to acknowledge greed and selfishness as a strongly motivating factor in human nature (such acknowledgment is the very basis of capitalism) and at the same time advocate for human society to find a way to transcend our base natures and evolve a society and economic system not built on them.

Transcending our base nature is the whole point of culture.