Examples of the benefits of less "guns" and more "butter":

From Norman Long's Informational Society site (see links)
After World War II, the Americans built a digital computer using vacuum tubes for military ballistic studies. Like many post WWII technologies, computers were originally created for military purposes; however, the real advances did not materialize until they were applied to business problems thereby creating a large demand, which promoted advances through economic competition.

From Discover magazine, 8/99, "purple passion" by Joann C. Gutin, observing Erik Kiviat's study purple loosestrife: Here [in North America, not its original habitat,] it has few, if any, insect preditors.  This freedom from herbivores may explain one striking aspect of the plant's behavior in North America: It grows triple the size it reaches on home ground.  When plants need to defend themselves chemically against insects, they use a lot of their available energy in the process.  It may be that in a predator-free environment loosestrife is like a country on longer at war that can reduce defense spending  and invest in infrastructure.