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"The moral of this story is crystal clear: Our real-life systems of nationalism, militarization, and escalation are comically absurd and potentially lethal — it

"The moral of this story is crystal clear: Our real-life systems of nationalism, militarization, and escalation are comically absurd and potentially lethal — it’s up to the youth to change the systems before it’s too late." As comically absurd as it might be, how should the youth change the systems to do something about it? I hope the youth don't find it comical for Ukraine to defend itself. This morning, having armaments for defense feels less absurd than it did last week.

deleted 5y ago
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endemic 5y ago
Yeah, I mean it _is_ absurd… but also feels like Pandora’s Box. We can’t go back to pre-nuclear armaments.
mrleinad 5y ago
I found a revelation to me yesterday[1], which was strikingly simple yet mostly overlooked in terms of the implications it has. There are countries with a lot of old people, and not enough young people to replace them as they go into retirement or old age. That's not just a problem for maintaining all that old people when they retire in terms of taxes. It's a problem because when you're a really big, old, and proud country (at least in your mind), things break down faster than you can train people to fix them and to come up with new things to improve on old things. And if on top of that you are immigration-averse, you're effectively dooming yourself into extinction. Russia is one of those countries. Going to war might hurt them more than anyone else, but at this point what alternative is there for them? Just waiting for their country to tear itself to pieces? That might work if you're a country with no imperial past, and no nuclear weapons. But the Russians will go down swinging... and that's a problem for everyone. EDIT: Added reference to the video that gave me this idea. [1] https://youtu.be/MIdUSqsz0Io?t=2059 https://youtu.be/MIdUSqsz0Io?t=2059
- deleted 5y ago
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- car_analogy 5y ago
  > And if on top of that you are immigration-averse, you're effectively dooming yourself into extinction. The great majority of countries, even those with extremely low fertility rates (e.g. South Korea), are vastly more populous than at almost any other point in history. We're a long way from extinction - at least due to underpopulation. Meanwhile, a low population has a smaller ecological impact, and it's collapsing ecologies that are currently a bigger threat than running out of people.
  - mrleinad 5y ago
    Maybe I used the term extinction too loosely. I meant the country as it is now would no longer exist. Not that there would be no people at all. For example, Russia would be split into different territories or smaller countries.
antattack 5y ago
The story shows that if you don't have as much arsenal as your neighbor you might be toast (just consider what would have happened if the neighbor did not have the B-B Boomeroo). Therefore the youth should join NATO and work towards disarmament and tolerance. Another lesson would be that it does not matter how altruistic you are if neighboring government is nuts. Of, course definition of what's 'nuts' can vary and some will depend in part on nationalism, racism, religion and exceptionalism. All of which can be hijacked by government and organizations if one does not have access to facts and does not think independently. Which shows how important education and freedom of press are.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

endemic 5y ago

Yeah, I mean it _is_ absurd… but also feels like Pandora’s Box. We can’t go back to pre-nuclear armaments.

mrleinad 5y ago

I found a revelation to me yesterday[1], which was strikingly simple yet mostly overlooked in terms of the implications it has. There are countries with a lot of old people, and not enough young people to replace them as they go into retirement or old age. That's not just a problem for maintaining all that old people when they retire in terms of taxes. It's a problem because when you're a really big, old, and proud country (at least in your mind), things break down faster than you can train people to fix them and to come up with new things to improve on old things. And if on top of that you are immigration-averse, you're effectively dooming yourself into extinction. Russia is one of those countries. Going to war might hurt them more than anyone else, but at this point what alternative is there for them? Just waiting for their country to tear itself to pieces? That might work if you're a country with no imperial past, and no nuclear weapons. But the Russians will go down swinging... and that's a problem for everyone. EDIT: Added reference to the video that gave me this idea. [1] https://youtu.be/MIdUSqsz0Io?t=2059 https://youtu.be/MIdUSqsz0Io?t=2059

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
car_analogy 5y ago
> And if on top of that you are immigration-averse, you're effectively dooming yourself into extinction. The great majority of countries, even those with extremely low fertility rates (e.g. South Korea), are vastly more populous than at almost any other point in history. We're a long way from extinction - at least due to underpopulation. Meanwhile, a low population has a smaller ecological impact, and it's collapsing ecologies that are currently a bigger threat than running out of people.
- mrleinad 5y ago
  Maybe I used the term extinction too loosely. I meant the country as it is now would no longer exist. Not that there would be no people at all. For example, Russia would be split into different territories or smaller countries.

antattack 5y ago

The story shows that if you don't have as much arsenal as your neighbor you might be toast (just consider what would have happened if the neighbor did not have the B-B Boomeroo). Therefore the youth should join NATO and work towards disarmament and tolerance. Another lesson would be that it does not matter how altruistic you are if neighboring government is nuts. Of, course definition of what's 'nuts' can vary and some will depend in part on nationalism, racism, religion and exceptionalism. All of which can be hijacked by government and organizations if one does not have access to facts and does not think independently. Which shows how important education and freedom of press are.