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comment by mk
mk  ·  4535 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: AskHubski: Weapon Industry
Personally, I'd rather not. Actually, I don't think I could. But I think it's going to be a long time before we get rid of war. War is stupid, and it usually comes as the result of a power-hungry few, but until we organize society differently, people will remain convinced that wars are necessary.

After I graduated with my physics undergraduate, the Navy sent me a letter inviting me to become a nuclear sub engineer. They said I didn't even have to shave my hair!

As an aside, I do believe that the more people communicate across boundaries like this, the harder it is going to be to kill us. Imagine if there were a bunch of afghanis here, sharing stories and videos. It's tougher for a government to create an enemy when you know something about them.





speeding_snail  ·  4534 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I think that the power to check information and communicate with more people is a good way to at least remove a part of the propaganda machine. The problem is however, that most of the wars nowadays are between countries which are digitally separated. For example, China has its own internet. Israel is also busy to make that a reality. Most "normal" people in Irak, Iran etc don't have computer access as we do. The web is not part of their everyday life. Might be a good thing for some, not so good for others.

Luckily, I won't get an invitation from the Dutch army, since they are busy laying people off :P (and my engineering skills are of no use to the army directly)

mk  ·  4534 days ago  ·  link  ·  
    The problem is however, that most of the wars nowadays are between countries which are digitally separated. For example, China has its own internet. Israel is also busy to make that a reality.

I agree it's a big problem. And IMO, the ones that push hardest for control are the ones that have the most to lose by transparency. The people of the world need to work hard to keep lines of communication open between them.