Sarah Paine

No, they're two separate topics, different generations.

Yeah, you have to learn how to use it, right?

And you have to maintain it.

The Russians had this fancy fleet that their aristocrats wanted to buy, so they're good at cutting checks.

But they aren't doing any training on it.

If you do numbers of days, like days at sea for the Russians, it's laughable.

And also it's cold, so all winter no one's going anywhere, whereas the Japanese are constantly deploying their forces and they're doing all kinds of practice and things.

So you can imagine if you don't do any practice, it's not going to go very well for you.

But the counterargument to this technology is –

If the value of the object is high, and if you're like an intervening power messing in somebody else's country, it may not matter on the technology, or it matters, but that these people will never give up.

So in the American Revolution, the British had us on technology.

I mean, it's incredible.

They actually could supply, in an age of sale and horses, they could supply things by sailboats and keep it going.

But we were just totally obnoxious and we would never give up, right?

And this is the problem with the United States in Afghanistan.

Talk about a backwards place.

It does get more backwards.

Or Iraq is the locals just never gave up.

They may not have the technology, but it's like, it's our house.

We want you out of here.