Hi Dayuhan,

Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
All of this seems less a consequence of the manufacture of tanks than a general consequence of industrialization. Of course the consequences of industrialization are numerous and profound and not universally seen as beneficial, but industrialization is still something virtually all non-industrialized cultures desire... except of course those afflicted by pastoral utopianism, an aberration largely overlapping Tranzi-ism. Of course very few pastoral utopianists, if any, come from non-industrialized cultures.
Hmmm, actually, it's not a consequence of industrialization per se but, rather, a consequence of a certain type of industrialization that has been pushed for the past 80 years or so. It is quite possible to industrialize and have mass transport capabilities that do not rely on fleets of trucks: canal systems and rail systems being the two main alternatives.

Personally, what I find fascinating is the process of technological leap frogging that goes on in some places, Brunei being one example. I'm wondering if we aren't likely to see such a thing happen in terms of transportation as well (it's mainly in communications technologies right now).

Back to the motorization stuff again...

One of the things about tanks, as opposed to, say, armed Toyota trucks, is the maintenance requirements both for the tanks themselves and for the road system. It's quite possible to have a national road system that is primarily dirt tracks (assuming no major rainy season) for pickups, but that does play hell with tanks (again, going back to the interstate system and, also, the German Autobahn).

I'm not saying that all countries which get tanks will do this. All I am saying is that if they get tanks and try and do things most efficiently, they will have a number of social consequences that may not be optimal for security and stability.