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What exactly is the nexus between "democracy requires defending" and "more smart people should be making fancy weapons"? There are many serious threats to demo

What exactly is the nexus between "democracy requires defending" and "more smart people should be making fancy weapons"? There are many serious threats to democracy in the US, but they're almost all internal: attempts to overturn elections, the confluence of increasingly disproportionate rural power with increasing urbal-rural polarization, etc. China is certainly a threat to democracy in Taiwan, and its commercial power sometimes limits free expression in the US, but it's difficult to imagine a mechanism by which it would threaten the US form of government. On the other hand, it's not too difficult to imagine a mechanism by which increasingly brilliant feats of weapons technology inch us closer to a terribly destructive conflict by convincing the powers-that-be that they could win without too high a cost.

howmayiannoyyou 5y ago
> What exactly is the nexus between "democracy requires defending" and "more smart people should be making fancy weapons"? "Fancy" weapons give you a vote in how war is fought and who will win. They give you a seat at the table when war ends. They are the stick in Carrot & Stick diplomacy. If smart people don't make 'em, you don't get a vote, you don't get a seat, you don't have a stick, and you either go along or pack your bags for the concentration camp.
- stirfish 5y ago
  >If smart people don't make 'em, you don't get a vote, you don't get a seat, I don't understand. If I develop a new kind of missile and sell it to the government, I don't get a say in what that missile is launched at.
  - n4r9 5y ago
    I'd guess you can make some stipulations in the contract. Could be wrong tho.
    - the_only_law 5y ago
      I have a feeling that your stipulations may cost you the contract.
- cipheredStones 5y ago
  Alright, just wanted to get from the high-minded "nobody wants to defend democracy anymore" to the underlying "if we don't get all our best people working for Lockheed Martin, the Chinese are going to put us all in concentration camps".
tomohawk 5y ago
After the CCP took over China, they turned their attention to Tibet. Tibet didn't stand a chance, and is now well along the ethnic cleansing path. Ask the Dalai Lama what he thinks about what's going on there. The CCP turned their attention to East Turkistan. There's now over a million Uighurs in concentration camps. Ethnic cleansing is in full swing as they bull doze the past. People think of these countries as part of China now. That's how all the maps are drawn. They recently crushed Hong Kong. There is strong evidence that the CCP is committing attrocities such as organ harvesting from living dissidents. The organ replacement situation is China is amazing for CCP members. Their next target is Taiwan, and dictator for life Xi has staked his reputation on conquering it. What do you think they intend to do with hypersonics or quantum supremacy? They are pouring a lot more money into these things than the west is. What do you think will happen when they can break our strongest encryption with quantum computers? All that invenstment of time by our best and brightest in fintech won't matter at that point.

howmayiannoyyou 5y ago

> What exactly is the nexus between "democracy requires defending" and "more smart people should be making fancy weapons"? "Fancy" weapons give you a vote in how war is fought and who will win. They give you a seat at the table when war ends. They are the stick in Carrot & Stick diplomacy. If smart people don't make 'em, you don't get a vote, you don't get a seat, you don't have a stick, and you either go along or pack your bags for the concentration camp.

stirfish 5y ago
>If smart people don't make 'em, you don't get a vote, you don't get a seat, I don't understand. If I develop a new kind of missile and sell it to the government, I don't get a say in what that missile is launched at.
- n4r9 5y ago
  I'd guess you can make some stipulations in the contract. Could be wrong tho.
  - the_only_law 5y ago
    I have a feeling that your stipulations may cost you the contract.
cipheredStones 5y ago
Alright, just wanted to get from the high-minded "nobody wants to defend democracy anymore" to the underlying "if we don't get all our best people working for Lockheed Martin, the Chinese are going to put us all in concentration camps".

tomohawk 5y ago

After the CCP took over China, they turned their attention to Tibet. Tibet didn't stand a chance, and is now well along the ethnic cleansing path. Ask the Dalai Lama what he thinks about what's going on there. The CCP turned their attention to East Turkistan. There's now over a million Uighurs in concentration camps. Ethnic cleansing is in full swing as they bull doze the past. People think of these countries as part of China now. That's how all the maps are drawn. They recently crushed Hong Kong. There is strong evidence that the CCP is committing attrocities such as organ harvesting from living dissidents. The organ replacement situation is China is amazing for CCP members. Their next target is Taiwan, and dictator for life Xi has staked his reputation on conquering it. What do you think they intend to do with hypersonics or quantum supremacy? They are pouring a lot more money into these things than the west is. What do you think will happen when they can break our strongest encryption with quantum computers? All that invenstment of time by our best and brightest in fintech won't matter at that point.