This is going to sound dramatic, but there are different dangers to the career game. War is obviously a lot scarier (and I literally have no idea how scary) but the kinds of fear are different.
When you're 18 and single, death doesn't scare you much because you don't have a spouse and kids. No one's being let down in that way. It will be rough for your parents, but teenagers usually aren't thinking about that, because we're programmed (either by genetics or culture; not sure which) to be a bit selfish at that age.
The effects of the career game (not just one business) are, on the other hand, deeply generational once you have kids and the die is cast. If you fuck it up, your kids won't have the connections and resources they need to thrive and they end up as mid-grade meat for society to munch on. This means they will have worse careers, and the effect propagate. The poor know what the stakes are, and the rich are terrified of being the one to drop the ball.
Dying at 18 when single means you don't have any kids. That's a lot less scarier to me than having kids and a mediocre career and having it affect them. That said, what would keep me from a war is not the fear of death, but the fear of injury, especially the psychiatric kind.
When you're 18 and single, death doesn't scare you much because you don't have a spouse and kids. No one's being let down in that way. It will be rough for your parents, but teenagers usually aren't thinking about that, because we're programmed (either by genetics or culture; not sure which) to be a bit selfish at that age.
The effects of the career game (not just one business) are, on the other hand, deeply generational once you have kids and the die is cast. If you fuck it up, your kids won't have the connections and resources they need to thrive and they end up as mid-grade meat for society to munch on. This means they will have worse careers, and the effect propagate. The poor know what the stakes are, and the rich are terrified of being the one to drop the ball.
Dying at 18 when single means you don't have any kids. That's a lot less scarier to me than having kids and a mediocre career and having it affect them. That said, what would keep me from a war is not the fear of death, but the fear of injury, especially the psychiatric kind.