>>12
Wow. Needless to say, after your first two posts, I wasn't expecting such a great response. Except of course for the niggers comment. Any more of that and I'm done.
I only take exception with your assertion that "there are too many problems with rooting a major cause of war to differences in the prevailing economic sector" assuming that by "prevailing economic sector" you mean the types of societies(HG-Agrarian-Industrial-Info)I mentioned.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm painting with a broad brush, but big pictures require broad brushes, and the history of mankind is a pretty big picture. I also understand that this kind of historical analysis is, to continue the metaphor, an exercise in painting by numbers wherein the artist is choosing many of the numbers based on intuition and other nonempirical input. In other words, my interpretation of history, its effect on the present, and how it will influence the future is, like everyone's, based on a speculative vision. Otherwise, history's just an incoherent list of events and their dates, each influenced by a practically infinite number of factors. Who knows why Napoleon was routed at Waterloo. He may have had a screaming case of crotch rot that factored more significantly than we'll ever know.
Still, we try. We create our realities, and if there really is an objective truth, then I recon sometimes we nail it, and sometimes we fuck it up so bad it takes centuries to recover. Still, we're driven to try. And though saying the complexity is an overwhelming obstacle is very Daoist, and certainly safer, it doesn't do much for progress. Put even more simply, you're right, I don't
Know shit. But given this context, the shit I talk is no less valid than anybody else's shit, so to be fairly judged, it must be judged not only on the accuracy of the empirical data, but the perceived quality, reason, and resonance of its deductions.
This being said, as the subject is war, and as my primary perspective is that of a warrior, I will address the effect that these paradigm shifts have on the martial capabilities of societies. But I've made my first points, and am interested in your reaction.