Thinking about how to escalate w/o using ‘when’.
One might temporize... from the future to the present... but still more or less implicitly hypothetically...
Then, the variable degree in which that presented is intended to be the hypothetical... or not... becomes the point of uncertainty... in the threat... or the taunt ?
You have almost answered it yourself... in "as long as escalations happen"... needing only to remove the overt statement of the conditional element...
So, from "if" you are murdered, or "when" are murdered... to "as" you are murdered ?
That would be another escalation... bringing the future (sarcastic) conditional... into the present... making it occur in the present... making it more of an immediate threat ?
"As China takes over the world"... ? You see that sort of language used all the time... if typically disconnected from the means... as "and a miracle happens here" being left the operative mode... in that way very similar to my recent rant ending with the presentation of the underpants gnomes business plan. Most people, being ignorant of the necessity of viable means... will ignore that your plans are similarly void of content. "And a miracle happens here"... seen as the core element in business plans, in the VC world, all the time...not to mention that politics would collapse without it. Most obviously in context of larger markets, we have seen that used in relation to the dollar... by those wishing it away as an inconvenience to themselves... without having any understanding of what its actual role is... or how and why it works... or what the (unintended) consequences of winning the goal would be, as in "be careful what you ask for, because you might get it"...
One in a polluted city might wish the pollution away... and regret the result when the atmosphere is removed in its entirety ? Will ponder other obvious instances that have occurred in reality...
How one uses language of that sort we're considering... a clear indicator of mind... but not necessarily of awareness or prescience. Stating a desired outcome as a tacit understanding or as an inevitability... different than stating it as a risk or a threat being perceived, with the language intended to amplify the perception of the risk / threat ? The nuance not hard to parse ? And, in the continuum... Biden saying "China is a competitor, not a threat" or simply "Come on, man" in dismissing China's challenges entirely... in spite of China, in some instances, clearly intending otherwise in word and in deed ?
The future conditional war... and the degree of its inevitability... probable outcomes ? They don't depend on the language used in posing awareness... either way... but only on how stolen underwear is to be converted to profit.
Otherwise... It looks like Elon will be first to declare himself king of the Moon... if not Mars ? Will be fun to watch heads explode when he lands on the moon and plants... a For Sale sign... while declaring the official crypto currency of the moon... that is the only valid currency allowed to be used in buying moon land ?
The ideology of self sufficiency... the independent spirit that defined the westward movement in American history... likely to be more difficult to replicate, initially, in the expansion into a multi-planet species... as rocket ships are harder to come by than horses... and life in a place where you have to make your own air... seems likely to be a bit more challenging to enable by yourself... at least until technology catches up to the "Star Wars" / "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" future conditional... when everyone naturally has their own star cruiser... |
