A single technological leap can render an entire opposing arsenal obsolete
Evidence
Weapon after weapon got swept into the race, as the Soviet Union and the United States each ratcheted up technology on all fronts simultaneously. Early in the Cold War the Soviets amassed a tremendous fleet of submarines, more than 450 boats. Their fleet outnumbered ours several times over, but in 1955 we upped the ante by launching the first nuclear-powered submarine. The USS Nautilus was for all intents and purposes invisible. It could stay submerged for months at a time, crossing oceans without ever breaking the surface. In one step we’d rendered their massive fleet obsolete, and the Soviets began developing a whole new fleet of nuclear submarines of their own. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 562
Categorization
- XREF: Innovation-driven obsolescence mirrors how a novel weapon form (e.g., enlarged claw shape change) can leapfrog existing animal weaponry. — connects to: Cheap weapons can disable the most expensive military technologies — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 417; Dominant weapons become obsolete when their intended fights never occur — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 456; Unmanned weapons render obsolete any teleological philosophy of history — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 645 (+6 more)
Related
- Dominant weapons become obsolete when their intended fights never occur (similarity 0.81)
- Cheap weapons can disable the most expensive military technologies (similarity 0.81)
- Cold War arsenals grew to planetary overkill capacity (similarity 0.79)
- Nuclear weapons make war as an instrument of policy obsolete (similarity 0.79)
- Cold War arsenals could destroy all civilization thousands of times over (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Unmanned weapons render obsolete any teleological philosophy of history
#exemplifies(0.60) — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 645 - Technological superiority does not guarantee military victory in guerrilla warfare.
#qualifies(0.40) — Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 713 - Mobile resources deny weapons a cost-effective performance advantage
#complicates(0.35) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 225 - Losing the ecological context of competition can make extreme weapons vanish.
#qualifies(0.30) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 438 - Uniformly distributed resources make territorial weapons uneconomical
#complicates(0.30) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 201