OpenMind5 Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 I'm Sure there are similar threads, but i would like to focus on these questions. What is the Cost of war? When is war worth that cost? Comments? Questions? Ideas? Thoughts? Belifes? Anything, very interested in knowing your responses. Op5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queso Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 the cost now is about a billion dollars a week.worth it, is an opinion. but i don't think it's ever worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelonious Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 What is the Cost of war? Lives, time and money. When is war worth that cost? War is worth the cost when the cost of NOT going to war is higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctus Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 War is worth the cost when the cost of NOT going to war is higher. I would say much higher (eg.US coming too stop WWII), not just higher as the cost is very hard to evaluate beforehand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHADS Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 Im sure ethical calculus will fare in the equation somwhere ... how many people are willing to risk there lives to rescue people who are targeted by people who consciously inflict pain upon them .... 1 man im sure would rescue a child ...... 1 man im sure would rescue several children ........ 1 man im sure would want to rescue a nation of children Would an army rescue one child ...... or several ......... certainly a nations...The cost of war in this instance is irrelevent of finance .. it is willfinances fuel war but no where near that of will ..Would an army risk all its lives to rescue a nation of children .... i hope so would an army risk all its lives to rescue several children .... and the sum becomes apparent .. the cost of war is that of will and finance is just a fuel to carry out will.. Would i resue a person opressed by evil .. knowing full well that i will die ... yes .That would be the cost of war and ethical calculus plays apart .. personal cost for a greater good adds up ..... financial cost holds no prescidence on ethical cost... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenMind5 Posted February 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 Chads, You bring up a great point! The cost of war is defenetly not tied to the obvious cash situation. The cost of war does go with lives, but i believe it has more to do with the nation and their veiws. Keep the post coming please! Op5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishteacher73 Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 The cost in lives may not even be a good "rule of thumb".:cup: An obvious example of where body count is irrelevant (if not endorsed) is the extemist Islamic Jihad. To die is an honor and secures a place in paradise. Much like Vikings had Valhalla. So I think the cost of war is very subjective and body count does not always fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelonious Posted February 11, 2005 Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 An obvious example of where body count is irrelevant (if not endorsed) is the extemist Islamic Jihad. To die is an honor and secures a place in paradise. Much like Vikings had Valhalla. The Islamofacists are not proud of the body count, but are still glad that those who do die will go to heaven. They still see it as a cost of war, obviously, because less people means less blowing things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenMind5 Posted February 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 The cost of war is how far a country is willing to scarafice. To sacrafice a life, may mean to kill a father, huband, bussiness man, a son, uncle, ect... The lives effected by one lose is enough. The cost of war is very high, but when that cost is considered enough to maybe change anothers life its worth it. The domino effect i guess u could call it. Op5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minna Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 There is also the psycological effect of war. Body count and $ in the future will become statistics and future generations would not have a clear understanding of what those figures represent. Yet psycological effects will live on, it will be passed down from a generationt to the next. Unlike $ it's not something you can 'get back'. If you've experienced/witnessed it...it stays for life, and the shadow of its effect will be passed down unconciously to the next generation. The closest example I can think of right now is Germany, where one generation will have to live with witnessing/experiencing/participating in the Holocaust and the next living the knowledge what their previous generation have done/experienced. Now with nukes i guess there is another long term cost of war(to add to the many). Even today babies in Hiroshima are born with genetic disorders. Iraqi childrens too, suffer these conditions due to depleted uranium present in weapons used in the Persian Gulf War.Either way I don't think War is worth the cost.Well ^^ that's my 2 cents... pgrmdave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctus Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 Iraqi childrens too, suffer these conditions due to depleted uranium present in weapons used in the Persian Gulf War. Same thing in Kosovo, but there it should have been a peace keeping mission....Anyway welcome to the forum Minna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minna Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 Thank you ^^When you think of the weapons we posses now, it seems the cost of a war is much higher. ICBMs, nukes can wipe out cities, this means that one side doesn't actually have to have an army to kill millions of people on the other side of the Alantic. At the same time it means there won't be any casualties or direct damage on one side while the other is utterly devestated. This is so different from conventiional warfare where both sides will suffer in some way. An all out war (WWIII) would most likely involve weapons such as these, I don't think any gain made from such a war would compensate for the expense in any way. ...sorry i am ranting aren't I? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindagarrette Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 The cost of war is an opportunity cost. How much could we have done for the world with the time, effort, and money spent fighting each other. We could be colonizing the galaxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHADS Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 I think we should come up with an equation for the cost of war.. ... . First will need to find what variables there are .... like finance , ethics , man power .. all intergrated some how to churn out .... the cost of war ...how would this be done and what variables would there be...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgrmdave Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 We also have to factor in the cost of the domestic side of war. The Depression in the U.S. during the thirties was only really solved because of the economics of the war. While this is not as important as the direct human life cost, it factors in because the economic growth helps people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpenMind5 Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Is this all that can be said about the cost of war? I was hoping for some deep insite here...anymore input...please Op5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindagarrette Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Is this all that can be said about the cost of war? I was hoping for some deep insite here...anymore input...please Op5 Maybe you are not asking the right question or asking it the right way. There is a real cost to everything undertaken, good or bad, which can be calculated based on relative value. It's always a trade off. Elementary economic theory explains it pretty well, the guns or butter analogy, for instance. What people chose depends on their economic and social values at the time. It's like morality, very subjective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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