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by SecretDreams12 hours ago |
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upvoteby DennisP12 hours ago|
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It matters quite a bit. If your drone costs $1000, you can build a thousand times more of them than if a drone costs $1M. As the saying goes, quantity has a quality all its own.

This is a lesson the US has yet to learn, and its military drones are really expensive. Ukraine learned it by necessity, and now it's building millions of drones annually.

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upvoteby boothby8 hours ago|
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On the other hand, if Musk really flips his lid, he's one OTA away from a network of ground-delivered lithium bombs. The fear of humanoid bots is their banality: if a government or private company has a reason to build them, then the world is full of hardware with terrifying capability and questionable security.
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upvoteby andyjohnson08 hours ago|
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I think what your parent commenter means is that, if the application is warlike or nefarious, them the money will be found. If, on the other hand, it is humanitarian, then every penny will be counted.
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upvoteby DennisP2 hours ago|
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Yes, I get that, but for whatever amount of money is found, you're better off using it more effectively. The cost of things still matters, if you want to win wars against serious adversaries.

One problem the US has had in its Iran adventure is that they're shooting down $30K drones with million dollar missiles, often several of them. Now the missile stockpiles have been depleted by 30% to 50%, depending on missile type, and they're not all that quick to replace.

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upvoteby k4rnaj1k5 hours ago|
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upvoteby kruffalon7 hours ago|
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> If money or economics were relevant in these decisions, most wars would probably not play out in the first place.

I don't understand what you mean here.

Aren't wars fought over natural resources or the political power over natural resources.

Obviously people sometimes miscalculate but in principle I mean.

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upvoteby antonvs3 hours ago|
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> Aren't wars fought over natural resources or the political power over natural resources.

Not really. They’re fought over fear of the future, desire for control and power over other people. “It’s us or them” captures one of the core calculi of war. It’s not rational, it’s just an expression of evolutionary imperatives.

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