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Comment by masklinn | Hacker News Reader

Can't really make weapons out of silk.

Being poetic about it, silk was effectively wielded as an economic weapon against the British empire to the point they retaliated with opium (flooding a foreign market with cheap drugs is surely an act of subterfuge if not war, so who's to say it has to have a pointy end to be a weapon?)

Reminds me of how the settled peoples of Europe, the Middle East and Asia eventually worked out the nomads would definitely raid you if you didn't make your settled-people-goods available for trade.

> silk was effectively wielded as an economic weapon

Wasn’t most of the silk used in Europe produced in Italy and France, though? Added together they weren’t that far off from China (which also had a huge domestic market). India was also a major exporter so clearly Britain had the option to expand “domestic” production or buy more silk from Italy (importing from China was presumably just cheaper).

European silk production collapsed in 1849 due to some still not well understood disease but that was quite some time after the first Opium War.

Is a shield a weapon? Is armour a weapon? Silk is resistant to cuts. People made suits of armour out of silk.

Burning silk (and other organics) makes cyanide. I have no idea if this can be weaponised.

You're surely trolling, you think shields and armour might be a weapon but you're not sure about cyanide?

The amount of cyanide affects its ability to be used as a weapon. Almonds have cyanide. They're a very ineffective weapon, unless you hurl a sack of them at an opponent like a mace maybe.

Silk is a defensive weapon. Or, maybe silk cords power bows or Ballista?

A lot of martial arts can teach you how to defend yourself with rope. You’re not going to kill a mammoth or conquer Normandy with it but that’s still a weapon.

Are weapons the defining characteristic of civilizations? Really? What about fashion? Surely we are now in the Polyester Age.

Boy are we lol

The petroleum age would seem an even more encompassing description along the same theory.

Weapons and tools is what the three-age system was defined by.

A garrote

Great for assassins, but not terribly useful in a large battle.

Very true. Also not useful for space battles. Or rhinoceros training.

Useful information.

Idle question: If I am caught carrying one, what is my excuse ? What could it be besides a garrote ?

> Can't really make weapons out of silk.

Someone will always find a way, and then everyone will copy them

source: every public internet thing ever

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