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I have always been attracted to fighter planes, the technologies developed and skills needed to fly them. These days I just wonder when the human being is going

I have always been attracted to fighter planes, the technologies developed and skills needed to fly them. These days I just wonder when the human being is going to stop building machines to inflict most possible damage to other human beings. Is 10000 years enough? I wish a universal wave of metanoia would cristalize on earth and all the might and magic of tje human would be use for a better purpose

lazide 4y ago
It’s a fundamental part of survival, it’s never going to end anymore than Bears will ever evolve to not have teeth.
- onion2k 4y ago
  I was going to post to say you must have quite a low opinion of the human race to suggest we maximize our destructive capabilities because we have no choice and can't do anything about it, but on reflection the opposite is true. At least if we have no choice in the matter and it's just "who we are" we can carry on without worrying about it too much. Believing we could be peaceful but we choose not to be is far worse.
  - rocqua 4y ago
    The need for destructive capabilities isn't inate to our 'design'. It's more fundamental than that. It comes from the fact that cooperation is unreliable, and the fact that sometimes 'the greater good' means individual sacrifices that individuals may not agree with. If humans were a hive mind where cooperation was assured, you'd still need destructive capabilities against the environment, and perhaps other species. That humans strive for the capacity of violence doesn't surprise or sadden me. What does sadden me is that much of our pinacle of technological development happens with the explicit goal of violent capacity. And the fact that rough parity in our violent capacity is generally the only thing keeping big states from expansion.
    - lazide 4y ago
      Exactly this. There is no more point being saddened by it, then there is being saddened by Bears having teeth. A toothless bear is no better off being so, because those teeth are useful and necessary for it to be a bear and/or equivalent in it’s ecosystem. It’s a part of it’s success and it’s future. It is a part of what makes it a bear. A bear that felt bad about having teeth though? That is one unfortunate bear. A bear that tries to tear out it’s teeth? That is a bear that longs to not exist as a bear anymore (or at all), and the most unfortunate being of all. If a bear happens to wish for a world where it's teeth weren't necessary, that is nice! But that doesn't much help that bear stay fed, survive the next winter, or reproduce. To the immediate parent posters comment regarding being saddened by the extreme focus (and spend) on destructive capability globally among us humans - it is sad, if one cares to dwell on it. I see out ability to do it as a sign of our luxurious position - not having to worry about if we will be fed or starve to death, if we will survive the next winter, or our being able to reproduce. Mostly due to that extreme obsession, the resulting tens of millions of (recent) dead bodies, and hundreds of millions more that did not end up dead because of them. Maybe I'm in a bit of an existential mood today, eh?
- Tepix 4y ago
  I suggest you listen to the recent AI podcast episode with Martin Rees, he has some interesting different thoughts on the subject: https://podcruncher.co/play/4Ivc https://podcruncher.co/play/4Ivc

lazide 4y ago

It’s a fundamental part of survival, it’s never going to end anymore than Bears will ever evolve to not have teeth.

onion2k 4y ago
I was going to post to say you must have quite a low opinion of the human race to suggest we maximize our destructive capabilities because we have no choice and can't do anything about it, but on reflection the opposite is true. At least if we have no choice in the matter and it's just "who we are" we can carry on without worrying about it too much. Believing we could be peaceful but we choose not to be is far worse.
- rocqua 4y ago
  The need for destructive capabilities isn't inate to our 'design'. It's more fundamental than that. It comes from the fact that cooperation is unreliable, and the fact that sometimes 'the greater good' means individual sacrifices that individuals may not agree with. If humans were a hive mind where cooperation was assured, you'd still need destructive capabilities against the environment, and perhaps other species. That humans strive for the capacity of violence doesn't surprise or sadden me. What does sadden me is that much of our pinacle of technological development happens with the explicit goal of violent capacity. And the fact that rough parity in our violent capacity is generally the only thing keeping big states from expansion.
  - lazide 4y ago
    Exactly this. There is no more point being saddened by it, then there is being saddened by Bears having teeth. A toothless bear is no better off being so, because those teeth are useful and necessary for it to be a bear and/or equivalent in it’s ecosystem. It’s a part of it’s success and it’s future. It is a part of what makes it a bear. A bear that felt bad about having teeth though? That is one unfortunate bear. A bear that tries to tear out it’s teeth? That is a bear that longs to not exist as a bear anymore (or at all), and the most unfortunate being of all. If a bear happens to wish for a world where it's teeth weren't necessary, that is nice! But that doesn't much help that bear stay fed, survive the next winter, or reproduce. To the immediate parent posters comment regarding being saddened by the extreme focus (and spend) on destructive capability globally among us humans - it is sad, if one cares to dwell on it. I see out ability to do it as a sign of our luxurious position - not having to worry about if we will be fed or starve to death, if we will survive the next winter, or our being able to reproduce. Mostly due to that extreme obsession, the resulting tens of millions of (recent) dead bodies, and hundreds of millions more that did not end up dead because of them. Maybe I'm in a bit of an existential mood today, eh?
Tepix 4y ago
I suggest you listen to the recent AI podcast episode with Martin Rees, he has some interesting different thoughts on the subject: https://podcruncher.co/play/4Ivc https://podcruncher.co/play/4Ivc