"A simple concept in difficult times of weak leadership, technological change, previous defeats -- it was a perfect time for a nut like Hitler".
Just as people like the computing pioneers Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers, and institutions such as Bletchley Park, spurred on by the imperative of national survival, were vital in Britain's technological battles to defeat its enemies in World War II, so must we now pool our skills and expertise in our battles against contemporary threats.
The remarkable growth in human knowledge and technological innovation offers real hope for defeating the age-old enemies of humanity: poverty, famine and disease.
It was not hope that inspired the programs that pulled us out of the Great Depression and impelled the industrial and technological surge that led to the defeat of the Axis powers.
In July, a border war broke out with Egypt, in which the Egyptians defeated Libya despite their technological inferiority.
Can these historical precedents teach newspapers how to defeat the economic forces of technological change once again?
An imposed block is just a technological barrier, which will always be dodged or defeated".
And if it is true, as the military asserts, that the key to defeating an enemy is having the technological advantage, then "we the people" are at a severe disadvantage.
The James Bond films take both approaches, so that a technological threat endangers the world until it can be defeated by 007 and his gadgetry.
Western economic dominance and technological leadership, it was assumed, would deliver the means to defeat all comers in a conventional war.
And building in circuit-breakers to keep automation from going too far could defeat the purpose of smart systems and stifle innovation.Still, technological progress is not some force of nature that cannot be guided.
