Escalation

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Atlantius
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Escalation

Post #1

Post by Atlantius »

It's a sad fact that escalation is nearly inevitable. A peaceful country gets a military because their neighbor has one and might invade. The second country sees this and is frightened of attack, so builds up its army to defend itself. This keeps going, and thus tension and fear build up, which lead to distrust and hate. Military alliances in peacetime have the same effect. This is in a nutshell what caused: World War I -> weakened Germany ->Hitler came to power -> World War II -> nukes -> Cold War. It all seems so stupid when the whole chain of events is traced back to simple escalation and alliances.

Humans have gone from spiked clubs, to spears and swords, to crossbows, to cannons, to rifles, to tanks, to planes. As our civilization advances, our weapons become deadlier. Wars up until now haven't broken anything we can't fix, but I believe the breaking point has come with nuclear bombs. If we have another major war it will cause carnage at a previously unseen level, and large areas will be radioactively contaminated. This should be something all peaceful religions/nonreligions and political parties can agree on, to preserve our civilization.

But the question is, how can we 'undo' escalation? Is it impossible? Is the solution to have world government, or is that another problem? How can we get everyone to agree to reverse the war machine?

~~
"If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them." - Unknown

"Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow." - Dominique de Villepin

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals." - Colman McCarthy

"If we don't end war, war will end us." - H. G. Wells

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McCulloch
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Post #2

Post by McCulloch »

I'm not sure what weapons WWIII will be fought with, but WWIV will probably be fought with spears and clubs.
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Classicus
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Post #3

Post by Classicus »

McCulloch wrote:I'm not sure what weapons WWIII will be fought with, but WWIV will probably be fought with spears and clubs.
If there are still people after WWIII...

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Sir Rhetor
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Post #4

Post by Sir Rhetor »

A quick thought before I address the question. Imagine you traveled forward in time 1000 years and looked at a history book. What would your thoughts be if one chapter was titled World War 50? I think about it sometimes and it makes me want to cry for humanity.

To generalize, wars are caused by differences between parties. The two main differences I see are unequal distribution of resources and power grabs (including but not limited to religion, land, and ideology). So to prevent conflict, the simplest theoretical way would be to eliminate or minimize differences. Eliminating warfare is a bit easier, because all you have to do is strongly discourage escalation into warfare. If Japan wants land from China, and Japan thinks it can just sail over the sea and take it, maybe it would think twice if there was a strong international discouragement.

Of course, Hitlers will come to power, and so these are the mistakes that strong constitutions attempt to prevent. If we learn from history and actively modify international behavior in response, I see far less of a chance for conflict.

Global trade is already starting to put a leash on conflict. If party A needs party B's money, they will probably opt for the cheaper capitalist solution.
"Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned."

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sickles
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Re: Escalation

Post #5

Post by sickles »

Atlantius wrote:It's a sad fact that escalation is nearly inevitable. A peaceful country gets a military because their neighbor has one and might invade. The second country sees this and is frightened of attack, so builds up its army to defend itself. This keeps going, and thus tension and fear build up, which lead to distrust and hate. Military alliances in peacetime have the same effect. This is in a nutshell what caused: World War I -> weakened Germany ->Hitler came to power -> World War II -> nukes -> Cold War. It all seems so stupid when the whole chain of events is traced back to simple escalation and alliances.

Humans have gone from spiked clubs, to spears and swords, to crossbows, to cannons, to rifles, to tanks, to planes. As our civilization advances, our weapons become deadlier. Wars up until now haven't broken anything we can't fix, but I believe the breaking point has come with nuclear bombs. If we have another major war it will cause carnage at a previously unseen level, and large areas will be radioactively contaminated. This should be something all peaceful religions/nonreligions and political parties can agree on, to preserve our civilization.

But the question is, how can we 'undo' escalation? Is it impossible? Is the solution to have world government, or is that another problem? How can we get everyone to agree to reverse the war machine?

~~
"If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them." - Unknown

"Between an uncontrolled escalation and passivity, there is a demanding road of responsibility that we must follow." - Dominique de Villepin

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals." - Colman McCarthy

"If we don't end war, war will end us." - H. G. Wells
This is simple. First we ask the question, why does the first country have an army to begin with? This is probably due to a scarcity of some resource. It might be land, food, water, or souls. To do away with escalation we must do away with the armies. And to do away with the armies, we must eliminate scarcity, or more importantly, the perception of scarcity.

so, responsible use of land. Plentiful food for everyone (which means doing away with money and essentially forced labor), responsible use and sharing of water, and the disbandment of organized religions( so there is no fighting for souls)

there ya go, and good luck

:P
"Behold! A Man!" ~ Diogenes, my Hero.

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