From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Jan 20 2003 - 16:38:39 MST
> (Eliezer S. Yudkowsky <sentience@pobox.com>):
> From today's rant in "Bob the Angry Flower":
> >
> > When did people start thinking war was an acceptable tool of policy
> > instead of a *total fucking human disaster*???
>
> Y'know, I think he has a point there. It may sound dreadfully banal,
> but it's still a hell of a strong argument:
>
> War is bad.
Well, yes, death is bad. And war, which involves lots of death, is
very bad. But there are worse things, like suffering and slavery.
And there are times when the application of deadly violence /saves/
lives. Avoiding war is a noble sentiment. But avoiding a war that
is needed to free an enslaved people, or avoiding a war that is
needed to stop a genocide or a conquest, is elevating the sentiment
above reason. And the idea that war is never necessary to do those
things is not rationally supportable.
War should not be a "tool of policy". But nor is it necessarily
the greatest of all evils.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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