whenever i read paragraphs like this one, i'm especially struck by the incredible, gratuitous waste of these (and all) episodes of mass violence. somehow the intimacy of the scale accentuates its nightmarish proportions
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@mysteronia There's this narrative around war in general that it acts as this incredible driver for innovation via necessity, but I feel that things like these aren't given enough weight.
How many potential doctors died in their youth? How many potential scientists, philosophers, writers?
The innovation that we get from war, is akin to burning down a tree so you get the fruit hanging off it when it falls.
@olistiel yeah, and it feels trite saying it sometimes. but there's something visceral about seeing that 1/4 of a university department or football team or brass band get erased in a 4 year period, with no obvious benefit other than a few more getting erased 20 years later. the pointless loss of entire lives and worlds of experience is so clearly bad, and "our planes got better" etc is so clearly insufficient