[quote]Originally posted by Azimaith:
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It would seem to me as the population on the earth gets larger wars will become more and more common, not only is there a battle for scarce resources but also the clashing of cultures and conflicting interests. War is inevitable so long as populations of people come into contact with one another.
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War shall probably not get more common, just more destructive. War was more common when settlements were sparse and technology was crude. Bronze-Age Greek tribes would war with each other on a yearly summer-seasonal basis. War was a necessity just to get the resources needed to keep their settlements going (cattle, weapons and land were the usual prizes for victory). The thing is though, due to the technology used and the tactics employed, each campaign only cost a few hundred lives at the very most. It was more a case of territorial boundary-setting as opposed to the modern idea of ideological competition and extermination (waging war to protect people's freedom, what kind of bulls**t is that?).
The problem with modern technology is that it has given our species, our tiny, fragile, 'no-more-important-than-any-other-species' species the ability to destroy everything. Not just the power to destroy members of our own species, not just the power to destroy the buildings and cities that we huddle ourselves together in, but all living things, from the heights of the mountains to the depths of the sea. This is a bad situation to be in. Favourable conditions on our planet have fostered our animal species (which is still largely governed by aggressive survival instincts), and given us the opportunity to develope the power to destroy the fragile systems that gave us life. Very very dodgy indeed...
[ 11-03-2003, 06:29 AM: Message edited by: The Hierophant ]