4 ms·

Wars can be won on technological sophistication alone.

pydry 1y ago
which wars were won where one side had the greater manufacturing capability and the other side achieved a decisive win with technological advantage? I cant think of any.
- Kinrany 1y ago
  The First Opium War is the best example I could find: a small expeditionary force ran circles around a peer country's army for more than a year and crippled it thanks to total naval superiority and qualitatively better artillery and rifles. The conquest of Aztecs is another example: Spain annihilated a country with twice the population. Though they cheated with bioweapons of course.
  - pydry 1y ago
    These wars predate the industrial revolution and manufacturing.
    - IAmBroom 1y ago
      Moving the goalposts.
  - ashoeafoot 1y ago
    ? They did not even have a concept for germs?
    - IAmBroom 1y ago
      Smallpox and other germ diseases killed more natives than Spanish bullets did. They are being jocular. Emit broken sounds of rapid exhalations to signal acceptance of the joke.
  - leereeves 1y ago
    Most of the credit for the conquest of the Aztecs should be given to the hundreds of thousands of native soldiers fighting against the Aztecs, not "bioweapons" (which hurt both sides) or Spanish guns.
- Xmd5a 1y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imjin_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imjin_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_ship
  - pydry 1y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44554633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44554633
amelius 1y ago
But does US really have more technological sophistication and will it make a difference? Some of the smartest people I've encountered in academia were Chinese. One Chinese guy was so smart that it left my professor (and me) puzzled about the speed at which he could absorb complicated concepts. I also see Chinese people and institutions on many research papers these days. Imho, it is foolish to rely on Western military supremacy, as if that were a thing.
- rstuart4133 1y ago
  > But does US really have more technological sophistication and will it make a difference? The US dominates in one thing right now: computers, and software in particular. That includes AI's. Whether that's enough to win a war is anybodies guess. It's like predicting the effect AI will have on the future of work. A few million slaughter bots that rest in the sun in the country side to recharge via their solar panels is a terrifying thought. For now it's science fiction, but if the USA found itself in a war long enough, it would become a reality. Musk's problems with the reliability of AI driven FSD would vanish, so possibly it's a reality coming sooner than you might think. But would any war China found itself in last that long, given their manufacturing capacity? Lets hope we don't find out.

which wars were won where one side had the greater manufacturing capability and the other side achieved a decisive win with technological advantage? I cant think of any.

Kinrany 1y ago
The First Opium War is the best example I could find: a small expeditionary force ran circles around a peer country's army for more than a year and crippled it thanks to total naval superiority and qualitatively better artillery and rifles. The conquest of Aztecs is another example: Spain annihilated a country with twice the population. Though they cheated with bioweapons of course.
- pydry 1y ago
  These wars predate the industrial revolution and manufacturing.
  - IAmBroom 1y ago
    Moving the goalposts.
- ashoeafoot 1y ago
  ? They did not even have a concept for germs?
  - IAmBroom 1y ago
    Smallpox and other germ diseases killed more natives than Spanish bullets did. They are being jocular. Emit broken sounds of rapid exhalations to signal acceptance of the joke.
- leereeves 1y ago
  Most of the credit for the conquest of the Aztecs should be given to the hundreds of thousands of native soldiers fighting against the Aztecs, not "bioweapons" (which hurt both sides) or Spanish guns.
Xmd5a 1y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imjin_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imjin_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_ship
- pydry 1y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44554633 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44554633

amelius 1y ago

But does US really have more technological sophistication and will it make a difference? Some of the smartest people I've encountered in academia were Chinese. One Chinese guy was so smart that it left my professor (and me) puzzled about the speed at which he could absorb complicated concepts. I also see Chinese people and institutions on many research papers these days. Imho, it is foolish to rely on Western military supremacy, as if that were a thing.

rstuart4133 1y ago
> But does US really have more technological sophistication and will it make a difference? The US dominates in one thing right now: computers, and software in particular. That includes AI's. Whether that's enough to win a war is anybodies guess. It's like predicting the effect AI will have on the future of work. A few million slaughter bots that rest in the sun in the country side to recharge via their solar panels is a terrifying thought. For now it's science fiction, but if the USA found itself in a war long enough, it would become a reality. Musk's problems with the reliability of AI driven FSD would vanish, so possibly it's a reality coming sooner than you might think. But would any war China found itself in last that long, given their manufacturing capacity? Lets hope we don't find out.