I guess I better defend technology for a while.
Ahem, here goes.
Councillors, I find that many of you, even those that do support technological focus, have jumped to the conclusion that technology is something that only the military uses.
That is wrong.
Our entire civilization, nay, every single space-faring species out there, are built upon their technological prowess. How do we travel amongst the stars? Technology. How do we communicate? Technology. How do we feed our citizens? Technology. Technology, technology, technology. We cannot escape it.
What would a focus on technology do for us?
It may uncover new ways of supporting our burgeoning populace. With the Turanei now scourging the former worlds of the Phyr Dominion, and with us unwilling to confront them, we are now running short of options when it comes to a path of expansion. Agricultural technology may increase our yield per world further, allowing each planet to sustain a far higher population than before. This is important, seeing as we have taken in many Phyr refugees that reproduce rapidly and consume resources of our worlds.
As our empire grows, we will also need better and faster means of communication with the far flung reaches of our borders. Fragmentation of communications will only lead to rebellions and break away provinces in the future. Stability requires communication, which in turn requires technology.
I do not think expounding on the military advantages of technological research is necessary; we all know what I think about that subject.
In short, to achieve the best results, we must focus on advancing our technology until we are on par with the Amoneth. Remember, we are only attempting to strive to be on par with the region's most advanced races technologically. There are likely far more advanced species out there that we have not encountered. Remember how badly the furry ships fared against ours due to our superior technology. We cannot let the technological gulf widen any further than it already has... do you think that the other races are also sitting back, taking it easy, and not advancing in technology at all, just waiting for us to catch up?
This is not a game, ladies and gentlemen. There is no rubber-band AI.