Every period of human development has had its own particular type of human conflict---its own variety of problem that, apparently, could be settled only by force. And each time, frustratingly enough, force never really settled the problem. Instead, it persisted through a series of conflicts, then vanished of itself---what's the expression---ah, yes, 'not with a bang, but a whimper, ' as the economic and social environment changed. And then, new problems, and a new series of wars. . Isaac Asimov
About This Quote

The quote above is from an article by John Kenneth Galbraith, one of the great economic writers of the 20th century. The basic idea was that there are always new problems that crop up, and that to solve them, we need to develop new technologies. This seems obvious enough. But since the invention of the printing press in 1450, we have been able to solve most of our problems without war.

To take just one example, let’s think about pollution. We got rid of it with laws against burning fuels made from forests. But these laws were not effective until they were enforced by law enforcement agencies backed by armies.

The other way to get rid of pollution was to make the air cleaner through technological improvements in industry and transportation systems. These, too, are now being addressed through public regulation and litigation rather than force.

Source: I, Robot

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