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Yeah. It is interesting though. I think the classic PBS documentary "anyone's son will do" is great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShDaJXK5qo https://www.you

Yeah. It is interesting though. I think the classic PBS documentary "anyone's son will do" is great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShDaJXK5qo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShDaJXK5qo I think war in the industrialized world is almost purely political. Wars in the modern day are arranged by old men and politicians and fought by young men. I don't blame the young men, but I think it goes back to some aspects of human biology and how young men see themselves and are manipulated through patriotism and other political forces to volunteer (or be conscripted) into a military to serve political ends. In a time before two tribes could communicate and apply some reason to things, force was the only way to resolve things. Force and violence is still a crude, simple, and effective path to changing human behavior so it of course is used, but if it is ever used between super powers the world is basically over. Anyhow, I digress.

rdiddly 9y ago
So then when you're done with your military career, you find yourself on the one hand having mastered yourself and done a lot of stuff you didn't think you were capable of. And on the other hand, some of that stuff is kind of bad, especially with that modern twist you're talking about - I would call it modern disconnection. I don't think there's anything in human nature that hasn't been extracted, distilled, modified and commodified by industrial society, and that leads to a lot of disconnection. Including with war and such. In the olden days, killing someone who was about to kill your family and torch your village etc. (things you felt connected to), was probably a lot easier to reconcile with your conscience, than nowadays killing someone for some faraway, disconnected political goal. Which eventually most of them realize as they get older - those military goals and missions, set by those at the top, are to some extent, arbitrary and capricious. I dunno, I would probably drink a lot too.
nasredin 9y ago
Nitpicking: One can say force WAS used between superpowers (Cold War, proxy wars) and we are still here. Old rich men will always find a way to fight each other without destroying themselves.

rdiddly 9y ago

So then when you're done with your military career, you find yourself on the one hand having mastered yourself and done a lot of stuff you didn't think you were capable of. And on the other hand, some of that stuff is kind of bad, especially with that modern twist you're talking about - I would call it modern disconnection. I don't think there's anything in human nature that hasn't been extracted, distilled, modified and commodified by industrial society, and that leads to a lot of disconnection. Including with war and such. In the olden days, killing someone who was about to kill your family and torch your village etc. (things you felt connected to), was probably a lot easier to reconcile with your conscience, than nowadays killing someone for some faraway, disconnected political goal. Which eventually most of them realize as they get older - those military goals and missions, set by those at the top, are to some extent, arbitrary and capricious. I dunno, I would probably drink a lot too.

nasredin 9y ago

Nitpicking: One can say force WAS used between superpowers (Cold War, proxy wars) and we are still here. Old rich men will always find a way to fight each other without destroying themselves.