This is a point of great subtlety and great import, for it speaks not only to the constant threat of war looming over the world but to the ecological apocalypse looming with even greater certainty unless we re-educate ourselves. In the near-century since Lonsdale’s time, we have cannibalized our climate for the exact same reason we have failed, as a civilization and a species, to eradicate war: Most people, whatever their loftiest moral standards may be, are simply too unwilling to inconvenience themselves with the not terribly demanding readjustments of habit that a personal stance against fossil fuel or the tendrils of the military industrial complex would demand of their daily lives. We weigh political candidates by how their tax policy would impact our personal finances and not by their intended military spending. We toss our soda cans — made of the same metal as the military aircraft of WWII — into the recycling bin when we remember, and we continue to fly across the increasingly carbonic sky we share. (emphasis mine)
… i said to my wife the other day, if we get through the Ukraine conflict without the world blowing itself up, we must find a way that all nations renounce nuclear weapons and destroy them… … i know this is a futile thought with little future… but, it is the only thought and future that entails the continued existence of humankind… … how could it be possible?… aggression and the suspicion of other’s potential to become aggressive seems baked in to the human species… how does one get the point across to humanity that it isn’t worth the consequences of tomorrow whatever you think the gains may be today… … i think the idea of refusing to aid and abet war… of offering moral support to those who engage in it, would only lead to would be dictators running the show to the general misery of humanity… i don’t believe all humans can resist the temptation of power… what is, what could be the answer to this?… i don’t have it, but if we are not to destroy ourselves, it must be found…