"'...somebody's got to command. It's your duty...
"'Dominic, we didn't make this carnivore universe. We only live here, and have to try and cope.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 367-520 AT Chapter Eight, p. 449.
Does someone have to command? If fewer people sought military careers, then maybe governments would learn to settle their differences less violently? I used to argue for the kind of pacificism that Max Abrams condemns at the end of Ensign Flandry. Now I am glad to read that British Muslims have been acquitted from a charge of violent disorder that was brought when they defended themselves against a racist attack.
I think that, with abundant energy and education, future societies will be able to make war redundant:
" 'Why?...A whole galaxy. A whole universe, a technology that could make every last livin' bein' rich - why are we and they locked in this senseless feud?'
"When technology has reached...a certain level...weapons are redundant. When you already have...all that you need, then...why fight?"
-both quotations copied from Interstellar Wealth.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
We have strife and conflict because human beings are IMPERFECT, because we are fallen beings. Strife also happens because many humans have IDEAS opposing those of others, which in turn opposes theirs. And it won't matter how low or high a level of technology we may have reached. And "education" cannot and will not remove this innate human flaw. No, my view will remain that of Commander Abrams.
Sean
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