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Comment by hughesjj | Hacker News Reader

Because the army doesn't build levees on the missippi and gps & Internet are strictly used to murder people

Just like the Roman legions only built roads for murder conveyors and weren't ever used by normal citizens

Facial recognition with a proven bias against certain minorities being used for ICE? Yeah, I got a big problem with that.

Some private or low level staffer looking for some boilerplate language or editing feedback on a PowerPoint presentation? Using chatgpt as a better Google translate instead of getting more locals and their families into a precarious situation? Not a problem imo.

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>Some private or low level staffer looking for some boilerplate language or editing feedback on a PowerPoint presentation? Using chatgpt as a better Google translate instead of getting more locals and their families into a precarious situation? Not a problem imo.

that's beyond the point.

parent objects to the war machine -- even those 'low level staffers and privates' are contributing meaningfully to the machine in which they operate themselves.

if the end result of a mundane process is that a bomb gets dropped and lots of people die, it doesn't really much matter to most people how minor the role is; like it or not even the guy getting the coffee for the general is a part of that process which ends in an action that parent objects to.

people oft forget this fact, which leads into a slippery path of 'condoning via non-action' because "well it's just coffee!", until it all adds up into a 'war crime' or 'tactical victory'.

War is terrible. Nobody likes war. Yet war is also the norm for as long as human being exists. Saying military is the war machine is a cheap emotional appeal.

Military also fight to protect civilians when war break out.

Military is the deterrence force that prevent wars.

Military plays a key role in rescue and recovery when natural disasters hit.

Most military forces have more peace time than war time duties.

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