Many in Silicon Valley hold the mistaken belief that if they and their counterparts withdraw from defense or weapons work, they can force a stoppage and bring about a peaceful equilibrium. There is a fundamental consideration that has been too little covered in this debate, however: What are the moral consequences of societies rooted in a Just War tradition refusing to invest in sophisticated defense technologies while authoritarian regimes invest aggressively in their development?
It is common in the modern era to see new military technologies emerge prior to the advent of standards and norms to govern them. This has been the case with nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons, satellites and certain types of ballistic missiles. Instead, these standards and norms are reached after the fact, via agreement with the greatest powers who wield the technologies.