Can men live without war? (1956)

Post by kiba » Sun, Jun 23, 2024, 1:14 AM UTC

mu53 wrote: post #96

rhelz wrote: post #12

Fascinating article...written not that long after it looked like men or anybody else could never live with war again. But, those fretting about the necessity of war need not have worried, as subsequent events proved. War between nuclear powers doesn't happen any more, but instead we've had endless proxy wars. Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine....

Ukraine is uncomfortably close. Nuclear armed combatant on one side, and proxy on the other.

Post by injb » Sun, Jun 23, 2024, 1:40 AM UTC

squigz wrote: post #59

jokoon wrote: post #14

In an ideal future, firearms would be banned worldwide. A body like interpol would investigate the entire world, to surveil if anybody is trying to make firearms. People would make bows and spears, but it would be more difficult to conduct war. It would not make war and violence impossible, but it would certainly be a better world. EDIT: lots of pedants: obviously there would be an joint army answering to an internat…

Why would they make bows and spears, but not guns? That seems a fairly arbitrary technological line to draw.

Post by ranger207 » Sun, Jun 23, 2024, 2:00 AM UTC

ocschwar wrote: post #45

graeme wrote: post #23

The thing is without force your stuff gets taken. We haven't got a good way around this. Our current peace is heavily based on nuclear weapons and the implied threat of force. Don't like the status quo? Use force to try to change it. Do like the status quo? Use force to try to keep it that way. We don't have a stable equiliubrium where no force exists in the system. Many in this thread effectively say "You can do wha…

1945 gave us a way out of this equilibrium. Not the nukes. The Bretton Woods principles. It was not a kumbayah exchange of platitudes. It was an agreement to let things be settled in the free market. Want more oil from Nigeria? Offer them more money than the other buyers. Want to fish the waters around Tuvalu? Radio them and offer more money. Want Congolese cobalt? Same idea. This was the brainchild of John Maynard K…

Post by ranger207 » Sun, Jun 23, 2024, 2:02 AM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #14

In an ideal future, firearms would be banned worldwide. A body like interpol would investigate the entire world, to surveil if anybody is trying to make firearms. People would make bows and spears, but it would be more difficult to conduct war. It would not make war and violence impossible, but it would certainly be a better world. EDIT: lots of pedants: obviously there would be an joint army answering to an internat…

Post by khazhoux » Sun, Jun 23, 2024, 2:11 AM UTC

dymk wrote: post #72

khazhoux wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every culture in every corner of the world throughout known history.

So far. Hence, education / culture issue.