It is perhaps America’s greatest failing that we think our fancy tech will solve all problems.
The reality is human beings don’t change. We are the same fallen creatures we were 200 years go. We have no more ability to control the Afghan clans than the British did.
“It is perhaps America’s greatest failing that we think our fancy tech will solve all problems.
Arithmetic on the Frontier
Rudyard Kipling
[snippets]
A scrimmage in a Border Station-
A canter down some dark defile
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail.
The Crammer’s boast, the Squadron’s pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!
No proposition Euclid wrote
No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar’s downward blow.
Strike hard who cares - shoot straight who can
The odds are on the cheaper man.
That last line sums it up nicely.