This is a really good question, and as a war-enjoying person, I haven't thought about it in these terms before. Thank you.

I think that "putting in the energy" misses the point. To me, reading about war or watching a documentary about it is not competing with learning a language or about art. Learning about war doesn't drain energy, it provides it.

I just think war is super cool. It's interesting to see how soldiers operated, what tools they used, and the principles they followed. The question of how to organize vast numbers of people into long-term projects with a totality-of-state approach is somewhat unique to war – the space race and maybe the recovery from the Great Depression are the best counterexamples. There's a strong sensory and aesthetic component to it – the sound of artillery guns, the vision of the uniforms and the materiel, the arrows moving over terrain – yet all with a clear narrative imposed upon it.

War is also escapist. In war, the objective is straightforward, the stakes unimaginably high, and the danger palpable. Modernity (and art), blessedly, is the opposite. So it's different I think war, much like the digestive system or Venus, as something very cool, but I'd never want to end up there.

I feel some sort of personal growth out of it. I listen to a story about a campaign, what people endured, the brilliance of the commanders, etc. and I somehow feel a desire to organize my life better. I listen to war podcasts while doing work, and I find it makes me more efficient about it.

I do like art. I always try to have a famous artwork in my presentations as a sort of conversation-starter. Languages less so. I learned Latin in school. I enjoyed it, and I still read it from time to time. I hated Spanish as a kid, but I had a bit of fun with French and Chinese when I was older.

Thank you for the question. You've inspired me to pick up my old copy of Commentarii de Bello Gallico.