Eureka says...
In their litany of accusations, the critics of science give a prominent place to the development of ever-greater means of destruction. They identify in scientific discovery the means of destroying humanity. This issue of Eureka highlights the uneasy relationship between science and warfare.
It is clearly true that scientific achievement and ingenuity, notably in the splitting of the atom, has invested governments with previously unimaginable powers of destruction. But, against that, science plays an essential role in reducing the costs of warfare. This is more than the truism that scientific research has humanitarian branches as well as military ones, or that scientists have often been in the forefront of campaigns for arms control and test ban treaties. It is rather that science produces more discriminate and less lethal weaponry while enhancing a nation’s ability to defend itself.
The development of pilotless drones has been an integral part of allied operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They allow precise attacks without endangering servicemen and women. Their disadvantage is to do with the lack of distinguishing features between, say, light military vehicles and civilian vehicles on the ground. Human fallibility will always be a danger in warfare.
Security policy in the UK has turned also to the threat of cyberterrorism. Science is crucial in providing a non-lethal defence. Cyberwarfare can cause catastrophe but it can also be used against proximate threats. A recent computer virus appears to have targeted Iran’s nuclear programme. That is scientific, military advance, but in the cause of peace.