HileThoughts

On a recent vacation I was finishing Simon Schama’s three volume History of Britain. Near the end I came across this passage from H.G. Wells’ Outline of History (yes that H.G. Wells):

War is a horrible thing, and constantly more horrible and dreadful, so that unless it is ended it will certainly end human society…There are people who seem to imaging that a world order and one universal law of justice would end human adventure. It would but begin it…Hitherto man has been living in a slum. amidst quarrels, revenges, vanities, shames and taints, hot desires and urgent appetites. He has scarcely tasted sweet air yet the great freedoms of the world that science has enlarged for him. (p. 435; Schama, Simon. History of Britain Vol. III, The fate of the empire 17776-2000)

Though there seems to be an argument that we are actually facing much less violence than ever before (for example here and here), the risks still seem large.

Wells’ words caused me to pause for a moment and think about all of the money, all of the time, all of the energy, and all of the lives that are squandered on war. Just sit for a minute and entertain a thought experiment. Imagine for a moment the world with all of the money, time, energy, and lives currently wasted in war were rather spent in the pursuit of making the world a better place. Oh, what a wonderful world it would be.