This
Means War
Over
the course of this class so far this semester, we have compared the aspects of
humans, nature, and culture, exploring the similarities and differences between
the three. As a class, we have created Venn Diagrams and list charts depicting
the overlapping relationships including music, dancing, and other aspects of
human life, even using Cheetos and French cuisine to describe the
relationship. Very few things were able
to be placed singularly in the “human” category. One of these was technology, which has
completely shaped and altered the way humans live, and which each technological
advancement, humans move farther and farther away from nature.
Possibly
the most important and uniquely human invention is, as the title of this blog suggests,
is war. Other than human beings, no
other species has the desire to kill or harm an entire race or group of people
out of pure hatred, jealousy, lust, or misunderstanding. Think about it—when’s
the last time you saw all of the bears in a forest gather against all of the
buffalo in the same region?? When did a large pack of geese attack a large pack
of ducks over turf? Or religious misunderstanding?
Never.
Now,
with the rapidly expanding field of technology, our potential for worldwide
devastation is greater than ever before.
Let’s go back 100 years
ago, just before the start of World War I.
Add the new technology of machine guns and you get the technology used
in the War. Fast forward 30 years and
add the technology for atomic bombs and you get World War II. Now think of
today, not only are developing countries fighting for nuclear technology and
nuclear weapons. Not only does the US
have the potential to essentially wipe entire countries off of the map with
nukes, we also have the potential to send countries back to the stone age using
cyber-warfare and cyber-attacks, like Stuxnet, which set back Iran’s nuclear
program close to a year with only a single attack.
