Militaries are doing more with less these days, person-wise, though still with massively inflated budgets. These days you operate a large standing army when you're worried that your youth might get bored and tear your country up if you don't keep them busy rather than because you expect to use them in waves of mass infantry rushes.
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2024
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They are doing more with less, but we're in the shadow of a looming fire in Ukraine. When countries are invaded, you can't do a lot with drones, governments will need bodies. At that point however, is when conscription would be its most effective (going off prior history -- obviously given recent developments, this is also being proven false).
I could very well be wrong, but in my eyes the war in Ukraine has shown that having a big standing army to swing around isn't the magic win button it used to be. Ukraine has been resisting far beyond anyone's realistic expectation despite being massively outnumbered, doing huge amounts of damage to even Russia's naval assets (in large part due to drone warfare). Russia thought they were just going to roll over the border and plant a flag in to Zelensky's head, yet they remain embroiled in a bitter war of attrition with a military that is a fraction of their size. For what they assumed was going to be a simple border dispute, they have had to convert their economy to a "total war" footing. The ramifications of them throwing scores of their young male population in to a meatgrinder are going to be felt for generations to come, even if/when they "win" and occupy Ukraine... and they know it, given their penchant for kidnapping children.
Humans are by far the most dangerous and capable "robots". They are just very unwilling to risk being damaged.
Errr... okay?
A very positive but also very scary article. Less war is good, but non democratic countries can still force people to fight, while democratic can't as much, causing a power imbalance.
Good! Put “the world leaders” in a Thunderdome arena and let them fight it out. Why should anyone else fight their petty squabbles?
When I was a kid, I was invited to a middle school dance by a girl in my neighborhood. I wasn't into her, but I said yes to be nice. Took her to get food, then to the dance. It was at her school, so I didn't know ANYONE there. Got there, asked her to dance, and in her exuberance, she accidentally bumped behinds with another girl dancing nearby. Well, you would've thought that my date had snatched her weave and spat in her face with how this girl reacted. She started yelling, pushing my date, and eventually called over a group of guys to beat me up. Suddenly I'm surrounded by 5 guys all at least a head taller than me. I'm still proud of my response.
I started talking to the lead guy, who was towering over me, told him we were dancing, that my date accidentally bumped his date. I said "I'm not mad, you're not mad, we've never even seen each other before. These two women we're with? THEY'RE the ones who are mad. They want somebody to fight, so let THEM do it! I don't give a shit about any of this!"
He looked at me, looked at his girl (who was now much quieter), nodded his head, and walked off.
I react similarly to wars my country's government starts. "Oh, you guys are big mad and want somebody to fight them? Ok, here's a weapon, have at it!"
Oops. Putin/Xi/Kim won. Now what?
Kill them anyway
Yeah, I bet.
Just walk up to them and kill them, you don't need an army to do it....
That’s crazy how all of those people are alive today simply because no one wants to kill them.
Yeah it's wild, but thankfully this thread told me we don't need an army any more, so I have to assume they've stopped being murderous dictators. Life is great happy happy happy
Ignore him.
Sure
Almost like we're sick of killing each other for the gains of the wealthy and powerful.
Wars are getting more common and militaries are building up. There’s just one thing missing.
Yeah I don't think so. Or at least, the wealthy and powerful don't give a shit what we think
It's that latter, the people in power only want us to think they care, so they can retain said power.
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