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> we removed civilians from the battlefield or at least we made it a war crime In the Middle East, the US likes to blow up buildings that they think might have

> we removed civilians from the battlefield or at least we made it a war crime In the Middle East, the US likes to blow up buildings that they think might have terrorists in them with a drone-launched missile, then have the drone circle back and hit the rubble with another missile a few minutes later to kill any neighbors or EMTs coming to help the victims. > Let drones fight each other. Are you imagining a sci-fi future where nations politely agree to decide their disagreements with bloodless robot duels? Wars are won by destroying the enemy's will to fight, not by gentlemen's agreements. You seem to think that war can be made safe and civilized somehow. It reminds me of the 1897 New York Times writer who thought that machine guns would lead to peace on earth because leaders would hesitate to send their soldiers against such deadly weapons.

trhway 9y ago
>Are you imagining a sci-fi future where nations politely agree to decide their disagreements with bloodless robot duels? Wars are won by destroying the enemy's will to fight, not by gentlemen's agreements. Where is no "politely agree" nor "gentlemen's agreements" in international relationships, only sheer power. MAD is an example of power forcing to not fight a war at all. Falkland war was fought without bombing Buenos Aires or any other action outside of immediate war zone. Ukraine/Russia war in Donbass was limited to that area because of possible repercussions to either side for letting it spill out (and for the same reason both sides in general, with some exceptions, didn't indiscriminantly target civilians). US and other developed countries limit sending its soldiers in harms ways and hitting enemy civilians because of internal and external political repercussions. So it is always a power calculation, and as a result in this more and more interconnected and densely populated world we have 2 tendencies - restricting conflicts to specific localities and minimizing human involvement. Those 2 tendencies ultimately lead to drone wars confined to specific areas (preferably in space or in cyberspace - notice how much of adversarial activity happens more and more in cyberspace, yet nobody is going for real life action over it). Attempt to bomb each other's cities will be (and pretty much is already today) unthinkable like in case of Falkland war. Of course, when there is no containing power in sight, we immediately have what Saudis do in Yemen right now - it isn't even a war, it is just pure genocide.

trhway 9y ago

>Are you imagining a sci-fi future where nations politely agree to decide their disagreements with bloodless robot duels? Wars are won by destroying the enemy's will to fight, not by gentlemen's agreements. Where is no "politely agree" nor "gentlemen's agreements" in international relationships, only sheer power. MAD is an example of power forcing to not fight a war at all. Falkland war was fought without bombing Buenos Aires or any other action outside of immediate war zone. Ukraine/Russia war in Donbass was limited to that area because of possible repercussions to either side for letting it spill out (and for the same reason both sides in general, with some exceptions, didn't indiscriminantly target civilians). US and other developed countries limit sending its soldiers in harms ways and hitting enemy civilians because of internal and external political repercussions. So it is always a power calculation, and as a result in this more and more interconnected and densely populated world we have 2 tendencies - restricting conflicts to specific localities and minimizing human involvement. Those 2 tendencies ultimately lead to drone wars confined to specific areas (preferably in space or in cyberspace - notice how much of adversarial activity happens more and more in cyberspace, yet nobody is going for real life action over it). Attempt to bomb each other's cities will be (and pretty much is already today) unthinkable like in case of Falkland war. Of course, when there is no containing power in sight, we immediately have what Saudis do in Yemen right now - it isn't even a war, it is just pure genocide.