Swords To Ploughshares

Swords to ploughshares (or swords to plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications.

The phrase originates from the Book of Isaiah, who prophesies that many people will try and gain entrance into the "mountain of the LORD" by proposing peace:

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. — Isaiah 2:3-4

The ploughshare is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit mankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword, a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use.

In addition to the original Biblical Messianic intent, the expression "beat swords into ploughshares" has been used by disparate social and political groups.

One of the greatest efforts in this vein has been various peace movement goals. An example might be the destruction of nuclear weapons and the use of that technology in the development of power sources. Nuclear fission has been applied to many civilian purposes since its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and nuclear fusion requires further research before it can become practical to the same degree.