After giving a short speech in class (USSO 10100), here's my reflection.
It began with the Germans splitting atoms. Otto Hahn won 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Nuclear Fission (1938 discovery).
Some would say the purpose of such discovery is for energy, which can be used for good and bad. I beg to differ. Hahns only saw it as a challenge, nothing more.
Hahn's work has been inspired throughout by an invincible desire to solve the problems which he has encountered. Unlike Prometheus, who gave fire to Man, he has never dreamed of giving Man control over atomic energy. - source: NobelPrize.org
One might argue that they just do not wish to make Hahn responsible for the deaths from atomic bombs. That is a poor argument, because it is not only a weak assumption, it also attempts to discredit Hahn in some way, nothing more than slander.
I learned that for some reason (they lack critical thinking and only accept general consensus available at the time), many do not recognize or admit that Japan's technological rise is largely attributed to them having no burden on military budget, that burden is taken by the U.S. The response in class I got was generally: "but military and technology are kind of the same thing". I would say this is the Millennials problem I'm facing - unable to distinguish missiles and war jets from robots and engines. One only has to do with destruction and the other do not necessarily. Unless, they want to make the point (which I wouldn't be surprised at this point with millennials) that missiles and war jets can be used for non-destructive good (now this is where they would be confused of between space rockets and weaponry...bottom line it means they fail to understand the economy of all these).
I'm a bit relived that at least someone has some sense:
"because of the US defense treaty with Japan where Japanese armies were forcibly demobilized, officially disbanded, and rearmament disallowed, much of their defense fell to the US. Because of this, they saved a fortune on defense spending and were able to channel their best and brightest (and their wealthiest) into constant expansion of the Japanese economy and nation building. " - AsiaExpert