GitS is kind of a horrific dark future underneath all the shiny.electroniccraneAugust 7 2009, 18:49:00 UTC
The peace after that held for 50 years before nuclear weapons were used in war again. That's something, I suppose. Maybe we can hold out longer this time.
... That sounds utterly depressing. xDoblique_wisdomAugust 7 2009, 19:51:40 UTC
...Fifty years. That does not sound like a very long time. I read once that people were simply made in ways that coerced them toward assault and corruption. I do not wish to believe it, but with the idea that nothing is eternal, perhaps it is a little more valid that I care to openly admit.
Their future sucks. They can never win against entropy, just stalemate.electroniccraneAugust 7 2009, 20:19:23 UTC
People do have better natures, but they're fragile things.
There were several wars in the interim and the powers involved held off on deploying their nuclear arsenals. Not through any real moral sense, but because the country using them first would doom itself as other countries responded in kind. Then the geopolitical balance of power changed and a limited nuclear exchange became possible. Several cities were destroyed, but civilization survived. Such as it is.
No wonder the Major is such a serious person. Cybernetics aside.oblique_wisdomAugust 7 2009, 20:24:13 UTC
[The Major's world is entirely different from Hyrule. It seems far more cruel, far more harsh, and perhaps even a little primitive. Not in the means of advancements in technology, but rather... when it comes straight down to how barbaric people can truly be.
Zelda's a little taken aback.]
...Fighting for survival. I suppose we all have our limits to what we will and will not forsake when facing our own demise. Power struggles, the decisions to delay in action... They are not always the easiest to handle.
[And it certainly gives Zelda some food for thought.]
She fought in two World Wars and several smaller ones. She has a dim view of humanity.electroniccraneAugust 7 2009, 21:09:51 UTC
In no case where a country's nuclear arsenal has been deployed as a weapon of war has the survival of the nation using them been at stake. They've always been used to demonstrate willingness to employ overwhelming force.
Notably, nuclear weapons have also never been deployed against another country that possesses them.
[It's always so difficult for Zelda to understand her, but the princess does her best.]
Is... If an armed country fought against another, is it worse or better than an armed country using the implements against a country that does not have any? It... sounds more like a massacre than a war. Or a genocide.
All sides in war commit atrocities. Most humans are empathetic beings. In order to turn them into killers, that empathy must be suppressed. Once that's done, there's very little standing between soldiers and their worse natures.
[Ahem. She's not talking about anyone we know, certainly.]
The ability to kill at a distance make it worse. It's one thing to meet the eyes of the person you're about to kill. It's another to push a button from safety and kill thousands.
The pilot who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima never got closer than 10 kilometers to the city and was long gone before the explosion.
[She snorts.]
I shouldn't complain. If it weren't for wartime research driving technological advancement, I'd be dead.
[Even fighting long-range with a bow is better than how it would be for someone to simply push a button, launch things of utter destruction, and wait for them to take the enemy out.]
I think you have a right to be irritated by gestures like that. Unlike humans and other people, you have the ability to see the things we refuse to. Your logic is astounding. Your analysis is impeccable. To a degree, I wish I was more like you. However, I am who I am, and you are you too.
[What's the point Zelda's trying to make again?]
I... just think you have every right to be agitated or to complain...
[Cowardly? Rational, as far as Kusanagi's concerned. She wasn't making a moral point, just describing reality. She herself wouldn't hesitate to call in an airstrike rather than risk her team.
But let it go. Zelda's from a different world.]
Fighting in two World Wars will knock the illusions out of anyone, Your Highness.
[Kusanagi is far too self-assured for compliments to fluster her, but neither do they move her, unless coming from a superior. And she doesn't recognize any superiors aboard the Elegante.]
What good would complaining do? I don't have any illusions about that, either.
Reply
Reply
Oh... You... are perhaps honoring the memories of others then as a result...?
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
There were several wars in the interim and the powers involved held off on deploying their nuclear arsenals. Not through any real moral sense, but because the country using them first would doom itself as other countries responded in kind. Then the geopolitical balance of power changed and a limited nuclear exchange became possible. Several cities were destroyed, but civilization survived. Such as it is.
Reply
Zelda's a little taken aback.]
...Fighting for survival. I suppose we all have our limits to what we will and will not forsake when facing our own demise. Power struggles, the decisions to delay in action... They are not always the easiest to handle.
[And it certainly gives Zelda some food for thought.]
Reply
Notably, nuclear weapons have also never been deployed against another country that possesses them.
Reply
Is... If an armed country fought against another, is it worse or better than an armed country using the implements against a country that does not have any? It... sounds more like a massacre than a war. Or a genocide.
If that is not too harsh to say.
Reply
[Ahem. She's not talking about anyone we know, certainly.]
Reply
I have never thought about it that way. You are exactly right. It is a sad, yet unfortunate and inevitable truth.
Reply
The pilot who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima never got closer than 10 kilometers to the city and was long gone before the explosion.
[She snorts.]
I shouldn't complain. If it weren't for wartime research driving technological advancement, I'd be dead.
Reply
[Even fighting long-range with a bow is better than how it would be for someone to simply push a button, launch things of utter destruction, and wait for them to take the enemy out.]
I think you have a right to be irritated by gestures like that. Unlike humans and other people, you have the ability to see the things we refuse to. Your logic is astounding. Your analysis is impeccable. To a degree, I wish I was more like you. However, I am who I am, and you are you too.
[What's the point Zelda's trying to make again?]
I... just think you have every right to be agitated or to complain...
Reply
But let it go. Zelda's from a different world.]
Fighting in two World Wars will knock the illusions out of anyone, Your Highness.
[Kusanagi is far too self-assured for compliments to fluster her, but neither do they move her, unless coming from a superior. And she doesn't recognize any superiors aboard the Elegante.]
What good would complaining do? I don't have any illusions about that, either.
Reply
Leave a comment