Letters to the Editor: Modern warfare is mechanical and faceless
Remote-control wars
A century ago, war was visible and tangible: mud-filled trenches, bullets whipping overhead, soldiers moving through smoke and chaos, every step forward a mix of sweat, blood and fear.
The cost of advance – death, terror, hardship – was undeniable. Civilians’ suffering was visible, part of the same brutal theatre, but the fighting itself was between men. Soldiers fought soldiers.
Today, young operators sit at consoles, their fingertips triggering explosions that flatten schools, hospitals, homes and entire neighbourhoods; children, families, civilians and the infrastructure they depend on.
The architects of this destruction sit before cameras, calm and composed, their power displayed like a trophy, every word rehearsed, their presence constant. The victims vanish from view.
Sometimes they vanish from memory too, reduced to numbers – ghosts in the headlines.
Modern war isn’t crueller – it’s colder. It allows suffering to be delivered with unprecedented ease and detachment, with the click of a button, mechanical and faceless. What once was soldiers fighting soldiers is now systematic violence against innocent civilians, carried out from a distance.
Alan T. Kelly, Ireland.
Covid revisited
It all seems very odd. Chris Hipkins is defending his decision not to make public advice which, a few days ago, he claimed never to have received, although it is mentioned in a Cabinet paper relating to Covid, a matter for which he was the responsible minister.
It is all a long way removed from the days of the “podium of truth”.
Or is it?
Peter Newfield, Herne Bay.
Fuel reliance
Why, in the middle of a fuel crisis, is the one method of transport in Auckland not heavily reliant on imported fuel having a shutdown? Commuter rail in Auckland is about to go into semi-hibernation at the time it is most needed.
Why does the Government not step in and tell the operators of this service that now is not the time? In fact, now is the time to do the exact opposite and services should be increasing to get more people on to public transport, out of cars and conserving fuel. The Auckland commuter rail service is totally electric and bus replacements are only partially electrified, so we are still burning diesel if rail-replacement buses are used.
Why is the shutdown happening? Well, we are told the reason is the City Rail link, a project well over budget and well behind its projected completion date. And when you are looking at the overruns that this project has had, what is a few more million and a few more months!
Trevor Stevens, Wattle Downs.
Housing densification
In The Battle to Build a Better City (Friday’s supplement, Project Auckland) North Shore councillor Richard Hills says: “What the city needs now is certainty for home owners.”
Plan Change 120 gives no certainty whatsoever to over 300 home owners in family-orientated, residential Hauraki, well south of central Takapuna.
These homes will be zoned for 50m-high, 15-storey apartments under that plan change.
Families in Hauraki need low-level houses as neighbours, not the all-day shade and continuous downdraft created by 15-storey shoeboxes.
Only a complete withdrawal of Plan Change 120 will give that assurance.
Jan O’Connor, Hauraki.
E-scooters on footpaths
Can anyone imagine the potentially tragic situation when a silent e-scooter travelling at very high speed on a footpath cannot hear an electric car emerging from a driveway crossing. The outcome could be instantly fatal and it would not be the fault of the car driver.
These scooters are also a severe danger to pedestrians – especially the elderly. The only solution is to severely restrict the speed of these scooters with emergency legislation to achieve this.
Dr Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.
Education in an AI world
New Zealand appears poised to double down on traditional assessment just as artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the world our students are entering. This is not a moment for retreat, but for rethinking.
When AI can generate essays, solve equations and mimic expertise, education can no longer rest on what students reproduce in exams. It must shift to what makes us distinctly human: critical thinking, judgment and the ability to work with others.
We should be wary of solving tomorrow’s challenges with yesterday’s tools. The question is no longer how well students can recall information, but how wisely they can use it.
A future-focused system would still value knowledge, but assess it differently. Students should show understanding both with and without AI and demonstrate not just what they know, but how well they can question, refine and defend their thinking.
New Zealand is well-placed to lead this shift. With a uniquely flexible assessment framework already in place, strategic changes could make our system more rigorous and more relevant.
If we get this right, we won’t lower standards – we will raise them in ways that truly matter.
Ian Parker, Cockle Bay.