4 ms·

WW2 could be taken as a benefit for Europe in the macro sense. * Influx of funding and loans from the US to rebuild * Able to rebuild legacy systems that were

WW2 could be taken as a benefit for Europe in the macro sense. * Influx of funding and loans from the US to rebuild * Able to rebuild legacy systems that were destroyed in the world (roads, buildings, new code standards, etc) * Reduced population means each individual is more valuable (See rising wages after plagues in the middle ages) * Increased interdependency to combat Russian and US pressures * The UN, NATO, etc

sime2009 5y ago
This is the "broken window fallacy" on steroids. There is no net benefit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window
- xeromal 5y ago
  Ok
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  How so? It's pretty axiomatic that destruction and rebuilding cycle that follows a continental-scale war lead to widespread investment and an economic boom.
  - adwn 5y ago
    That's not what "axiomatic" means. Maybe you meant "self-evident"? But that's not true either: Not every country ravaged by war goes on to become an economic powerhouse.
  - aliasEli 5y ago
    How about Germany after WWI?
pjc50 5y ago
Some of which applies to SV as well. The US Navy: - taught a huge number of people enough electronics to do field maintenance of radio and radar - had a further more theoretical education for radar operators - at the end of the war, sold off a huge amount of kit cheaply; some of this is still kicking around the ham community in California. See e.g. https://mightyohm.com/wiki/resources:surplus https://mightyohm.com/wiki/resources:surplus and the geographic distribution The US picked up a lot of refugees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) , Intel founder Andy Grove etc). There's all sorts of odd little path dependencies. Shockley and Fairchild semiconductors were in California because Shockley himself wanted to live near his mother and managed to recruit people to move across the country.
- xeromal 5y ago
  I find it very interesting how it all played out to make society today. Thanks for sharing these articles. I'm gonna check them out
egman_ekki 5y ago
I wonder if we should perhaps bomb some nations every once in a while for their benefit... /s
pvaldes 5y ago
* And random effects over nature also, some negative, but other beneficial. The war submarines acting as a new top predator and the deploy of sea mines were a bless for fisheries, for example.

sime2009 5y ago

This is the "broken window fallacy" on steroids. There is no net benefit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

xeromal 5y ago
Ok
selfhoster11 5y ago
How so? It's pretty axiomatic that destruction and rebuilding cycle that follows a continental-scale war lead to widespread investment and an economic boom.
- adwn 5y ago
  That's not what "axiomatic" means. Maybe you meant "self-evident"? But that's not true either: Not every country ravaged by war goes on to become an economic powerhouse.
- aliasEli 5y ago
  How about Germany after WWI?

pjc50 5y ago

Some of which applies to SV as well. The US Navy: - taught a huge number of people enough electronics to do field maintenance of radio and radar - had a further more theoretical education for radar operators - at the end of the war, sold off a huge amount of kit cheaply; some of this is still kicking around the ham community in California. See e.g. https://mightyohm.com/wiki/resources:surplus https://mightyohm.com/wiki/resources:surplus and the geographic distribution The US picked up a lot of refugees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) , Intel founder Andy Grove etc). There's all sorts of odd little path dependencies. Shockley and Fairchild semiconductors were in California because Shockley himself wanted to live near his mother and managed to recruit people to move across the country.

xeromal 5y ago
I find it very interesting how it all played out to make society today. Thanks for sharing these articles. I'm gonna check them out

egman_ekki 5y ago

I wonder if we should perhaps bomb some nations every once in a while for their benefit... /s

pvaldes 5y ago

* And random effects over nature also, some negative, but other beneficial. The war submarines acting as a new top predator and the deploy of sea mines were a bless for fisheries, for example.