the world's top 15 military spenders spent in 2015 about 1.6 trillion dollar, I am wondering what are the things that humanity can achieve if such amount of money were put in a good use, for example in research, education, health care, etcetera. do you guys have any ideas ?
Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
1–10 of 23 posts
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#2(if it) were put in a good use
Security is a good use. If you think America would be a better place by completely disarming, think again. In reality, it would cease to exist in short order as hostile nations took it over and parted it out.
Same goes for any other nation.
"A man of peace must be strong."
The truth is that anti-military hippies only ever exist in secure nations that can count on their biggest worry being local crime. There probably aren't any hippies in Aleppo at the moment. They only sprout in secure, walled gardens that are created by the very military forces they decry as some kind of innate evil. Because they are clueless fools.
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#3(if it) were put in a good use Security is a good use. If you think America would be a better place by completely disarming, think again. In reality, it would cease to exist in short order as hostile nations took it over and parted it out. Same goes for any other nation. "A man of peace must be strong." The truth is that anti-military hippies only ever exist in secure nations that can count on their biggest worry bei…
I agree with the gist of what you're saying, but it sells better without the vitriol.
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#4(if it) were put in a good use Security is a good use. If you think America would be a better place by completely disarming, think again. In reality, it would cease to exist in short order as hostile nations took it over and parted it out. Same goes for any other nation. "A man of peace must be strong." The truth is that anti-military hippies only ever exist in secure nations that can count on their biggest worry bei…
I agree with the gist of what you're saying, but it sells better without the vitriol.
My father fought in two wars and was awarded a purple heart. Statements that suggest the huge personal price paid by soldiers and their loved ones are a waste of money are hugely insulting and disrespectful. I do not feel my remarks contain any vitriol. If anything, the OP owes the veterans of the world an apology.
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with the gist of what you're saying, but it sells better without the vitriol.
My father fought in two wars and was awarded a purple heart. Statements that suggest the huge personal price paid by soldiers and their loved ones are a waste of money are hugely insulting and disrespectful. I do not feel my remarks contain any vitriol. If anything, the OP owes the veterans of the world an apology.
I understand and agree with you that the personal price paid by veterans cannot be understated, but I think the OP's thought experiment was free of any slight against the military. He simply asked what such an amount would buy in pursuits not focused on the military.
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
My father fought in two wars and was awarded a purple heart. Statements that suggest the huge personal price paid by soldiers and their loved ones are a waste of money are hugely insulting and disrespectful. I do not feel my remarks contain any vitriol. If anything, the OP owes the veterans of the world an apology.
I understand and agree with you that the personal price paid by veterans cannot be understated, but I think the OP's thought experiment was free of any slight against the military. He simply asked what such an amount would buy in pursuits not focused on the military.
No. The framing entirely dismisses the military as being of no positive value.
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#7Its not as simple as money in, progress out. Nations have unlimited money because they can print as much as they want, inflation aside. If their workforce can't do something, no amount of money will make it happen. Further there are forms of government in place that will limit the ability of the world to achieve goals. This is because many governments around the world will likely just take whatever excess profits arise out of any extra effort and people will have no profit motive to change the status quo. Most research IS motivated by military applications so defunding that would probably kill a lot of progress in space travel, health care, etc.
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#8(if it) were put in a good use Security is a good use. If you think America would be a better place by completely disarming, think again. In reality, it would cease to exist in short order as hostile nations took it over and parted it out. Same goes for any other nation. "A man of peace must be strong." The truth is that anti-military hippies only ever exist in secure nations that can count on their biggest worry bei…
Do we really achieve more security through excessive military spending though?
Arguably, the world's less safe than it was 15 years ago in spite of massively increased defence and security spendings during that time.
Now the usual counter-argument to that of course is that it'd be even a lot worse if we hadn't spent so much on defence.
However, for instance both the war in Iraq and many of the new airport security measures in recent years were quite counterproductive in that they not only failed to make the world a safer place but achieved the exact opposite (the war in Iraq in particular, which gave us ISIS).
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#9Give that 1.6 trillion dollars to people as an annual basic income. As of now this would mean $230 per year for each individual, which would lift a lot of people from abject poverty. This in turn would help to eliminate a lot of the issues that require such huge military spending in the first place.
Re: Ask HN: What can we achieve with 1.6 trillion dollar?
#10(if it) were put in a good use Security is a good use. If you think America would be a better place by completely disarming, think again. In reality, it would cease to exist in short order as hostile nations took it over and parted it out. Same goes for any other nation. "A man of peace must be strong." The truth is that anti-military hippies only ever exist in secure nations that can count on their biggest worry bei…
Do we really achieve more security through excessive military spending though? Arguably, the world's less safe than it was 15 years ago in spite of massively increased defence and security spendings during that time. Now the usual counter-argument to that of course is that it'd be even a lot worse if we hadn't spent so much on defence. However, for instance both the war in Iraq and many of the new airport security me…
That is a totally valid point and one worthy of meaty discussion. It is also unrelated to dismissing military spending wholecloth as nothing but a waste of resources.