Pacifism And Future Weapons

The Long Way Home, CHAPTER FOUR.

Blausten, one of the Explorer crew, had been what he calls "'...a pacifist...'" (p. 40) That word can have different meanings and he qualifies it by adding, "'...intellectual pacifist...'" (ibid.) He saw war as a farce and thought that the solution was easy:

"'It stares you right in the face. A universal government with teeth. That's all. No more war. No more men getting shot and resources plundered and little children burned alive.'" (ibid.)

He is in the wrong future history. That solution was tried, unsuccessfully, in Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History. But this brings us to different meanings of "pacifist." "...with teeth..." means preparedness to use force, a monopoly on violence. In fact, "universal government" definitely means a monopoly on violence. However, the purest, arguably the only fully consistent, meaning of "pacifist" is a rejection of any use of force or violence. Thus, pacifism has to mean anarchism: no government.

Besides, a universal government addresses only the political organization of society. Would the economy continue to be organized in a way that generated conflicts which sometimes became violent?

Blaustein had hoped that the human race would have learned after five thousand years. The cycle of the rise and fall of civilizations might continue, as described, over that long a time although maybe not - how can life and its environment survive the use of such devastating weapons as are described? 

"'Did you know they can disintegrate any kind of matter completely now? Nine times ten to the twentieth ergs per gram. And there are things like synthetic virus and radioactive dust.'" (p. 41)