I would like your assistance with gathering rational outside view so that I can make better moral decisions. The general context is that I consider myself an effective altruist with mostly Utilitarian ethics, and I have some more time of mandatory service in which I have considerably high degree of freedom to choose my path. The dillema is dependent on many questions, but my goal here is mostly to debias myself on questions relating to the moral stance of Israel or armies in general (although I care much more about the expected impact of my actions, irrespectively of whether it's done in the name of good or evil).
Hoping for a discussion, here are some questions I'd like to get an answer to, which are mainly here to give a broad sense of what I think might be relevant. Any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated, even epistimological tips to help me make better decisions on this topic would be of great help.
Are there armies in any time in history in which individuals should have served in the military to do the most good in expected global utility? If so, what seems to be the criteria?
What are some possible implication of increasing/decreasing Israeli's millitary power?
Even if I conclude that Israel is a force for good (or for evil) in the world, am I likely to think so 20 (50) years from now?
Should I expect a random EA who has done some ammount of (non-combatant) militry service to regret the actions she has done? Since I am taking a Utilitarian perspective, assume that she had an option not to serve in the military.
If you broaden the definition of military to include cyberwarfare in the vein of propaganda/fake news/hacking, then I think it is still a tremendously important activity. Military participation in on the ground activities - not as much. I'm personally of the view that actual ground activities now play the support role to cyber activities, rather than the other way around (Rather than try explain my views on that here, I'll just link you to the book I got that view from: War in 140 Characters: How Social Media is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century).
I would like your assistance with gathering rational outside view so that I can make better moral decisions. The general context is that I consider myself an effective altruist with mostly Utilitarian ethics, and I have some more time of mandatory service in which I have considerably high degree of freedom to choose my path. The dillema is dependent on many questions, but my goal here is mostly to debias myself on questions relating to the moral stance of Israel or armies in general (although I care much more about the expected impact of my actions, irrespectively of whether it's done in the name of good or evil).
Hoping for a discussion, here are some questions I'd like to get an answer to, which are mainly here to give a broad sense of what I think might be relevant. Any helpful comments would be greatly appreciated, even epistimological tips to help me make better decisions on this topic would be of great help.