3 ms·

Hell of a comparison. “Why can’t they?,” you ask? I’m not saying they can’t, but for a start, how about the fact that we are no longer fighting a world war?

non_sequitur 8y ago
And do you know what it is that really upholds the peace we all love?
- oliveshell 8y ago
  What in God’s name are you asking? You seem confused as to the nature of my comment, which was merely pointing out the massive difference in context between WWII and today.
  - non_sequitur 8y ago
    So your contention is that you have to be fighting a world war in order to help your military? (The post you responded to) There's no other reason to help your military? Really? Edit: this came out a bit snide so let me elaborate. There are plenty of reasons you may want to help your military when there isn't a world war going on. You can do it for patriotism. You can do it for the economics. You can do it because military applications of technology are actually pretty cool and can lead to more commercial inventions. Or, to the point in my original response, you can do it because you understand deep down that the threat of military force is what underpins the overall fairly secure world that we live in. Look at the military maneuvers and carrier group movements every time two countries get nervous around each other. Despite (or maybe because of) evolution were still just a step away from clubbing our neighbor (or being clubbed) for resources. So yes, a strong military helps support the country Google was founded in and thrived in, and helps Google and every other company in the US be successful, and makes possible the salaries we all make. So there are definitely incentives for those companies to want to make sure their military is properly supported. And no, I'm not a military man.
    - zdkl 8y ago
      Yeah it's fairly obvious you aren't a military man, thank you for saying it explicitely. The core of my issue with your points is this belief: >the threat of military force is what underpins the overall fairly secure world that we live in That hasn't been true since some time after the first gulf war. Asymmetrical warfare (good old guerilla/"terrorism", cyberespionnage..) aren't operational theaters on which carrier groups present determining advantages. The threat of vitrificating entire valleys hasn't really deterred ideological opponents to the USmil and associated economical or strategic partners. Basically, you're arguing for a variant of the irresistible movement (strong traditional military capabilities), while ignoring why the metaphorical unmoveable object adapts to resist traditional military pressure. Ask the soviets how Afghanistan went for them despite their vastly superior military capabilities.
    - jjuhl 8y ago
      "There's no other reason to help your military?" - I would say that there is indeed no reason to help the military in any way. We would all be a lot better off if the military was disbanded and people would focus on other things than killing eachother. And take it a step further and ban guns/weapons in general, both ownership and production (including for state actors) and we would be one step closer to world peace.
- zdkl 8y ago
  Username checks out. So social media and search are guarantors of world peace? From a non-US perspective, it looks more like SIGINT against allies by treaty. But hey, it's a private company, no harm, no foul.
  - non_sequitur 8y ago
    What are you talking about? Google is/was not contemplating offering social media and search services as part of Maven. The subthread op asked, why can't a company help its country's military?
- wallace_f 8y ago
  Is it arming Saudis to create famine in Yemen? Or is it that police can drop literal bombs on Black neighborhoods and few will ever know about it?[1] Or is it that when I'm in the US, I'm more likely to be murdered by police than to be murdered by anyone while in Japan? Or is it that Chicago has a murder rate 5x that of Somalia? Or WMD lies? Gulf of Tonkin lies? You may love this, but does everyone? Wolf Blitzer said he does: https://theintercept.com/2016/09/09/wolf-blitzer-is-worried-defense-contractors-will-lose-jobs-if-u-s-stops-arming-saudi-arabia/ https://theintercept.com/2016/09/09/wolf-blitzer-is-worried-... 1 - https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/18/407665820/why-did-we-forget-the-move-bombing https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/18/407665820...
- johnchristopher 8y ago
  Around here it's often capitalism that is the poster cold for world peace.

non_sequitur 8y ago

And do you know what it is that really upholds the peace we all love?

oliveshell 8y ago
What in God’s name are you asking? You seem confused as to the nature of my comment, which was merely pointing out the massive difference in context between WWII and today.
- non_sequitur 8y ago
  So your contention is that you have to be fighting a world war in order to help your military? (The post you responded to) There's no other reason to help your military? Really? Edit: this came out a bit snide so let me elaborate. There are plenty of reasons you may want to help your military when there isn't a world war going on. You can do it for patriotism. You can do it for the economics. You can do it because military applications of technology are actually pretty cool and can lead to more commercial inventions. Or, to the point in my original response, you can do it because you understand deep down that the threat of military force is what underpins the overall fairly secure world that we live in. Look at the military maneuvers and carrier group movements every time two countries get nervous around each other. Despite (or maybe because of) evolution were still just a step away from clubbing our neighbor (or being clubbed) for resources. So yes, a strong military helps support the country Google was founded in and thrived in, and helps Google and every other company in the US be successful, and makes possible the salaries we all make. So there are definitely incentives for those companies to want to make sure their military is properly supported. And no, I'm not a military man.
  - zdkl 8y ago
    Yeah it's fairly obvious you aren't a military man, thank you for saying it explicitely. The core of my issue with your points is this belief: >the threat of military force is what underpins the overall fairly secure world that we live in That hasn't been true since some time after the first gulf war. Asymmetrical warfare (good old guerilla/"terrorism", cyberespionnage..) aren't operational theaters on which carrier groups present determining advantages. The threat of vitrificating entire valleys hasn't really deterred ideological opponents to the USmil and associated economical or strategic partners. Basically, you're arguing for a variant of the irresistible movement (strong traditional military capabilities), while ignoring why the metaphorical unmoveable object adapts to resist traditional military pressure. Ask the soviets how Afghanistan went for them despite their vastly superior military capabilities.
  - jjuhl 8y ago
    "There's no other reason to help your military?" - I would say that there is indeed no reason to help the military in any way. We would all be a lot better off if the military was disbanded and people would focus on other things than killing eachother. And take it a step further and ban guns/weapons in general, both ownership and production (including for state actors) and we would be one step closer to world peace.
zdkl 8y ago
Username checks out. So social media and search are guarantors of world peace? From a non-US perspective, it looks more like SIGINT against allies by treaty. But hey, it's a private company, no harm, no foul.
- non_sequitur 8y ago
  What are you talking about? Google is/was not contemplating offering social media and search services as part of Maven. The subthread op asked, why can't a company help its country's military?
wallace_f 8y ago
Is it arming Saudis to create famine in Yemen? Or is it that police can drop literal bombs on Black neighborhoods and few will ever know about it?[1] Or is it that when I'm in the US, I'm more likely to be murdered by police than to be murdered by anyone while in Japan? Or is it that Chicago has a murder rate 5x that of Somalia? Or WMD lies? Gulf of Tonkin lies? You may love this, but does everyone? Wolf Blitzer said he does: https://theintercept.com/2016/09/09/wolf-blitzer-is-worried-defense-contractors-will-lose-jobs-if-u-s-stops-arming-saudi-arabia/ https://theintercept.com/2016/09/09/wolf-blitzer-is-worried-... 1 - https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/18/407665820/why-did-we-forget-the-move-bombing https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/18/407665820...
johnchristopher 8y ago
Around here it's often capitalism that is the poster cold for world peace.