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"Evolution
of Weaponry"
Conclusion:
The Future of Weapons' Evolution
Wars
are fought by one group of humans to force another group
to submit to their will. Weapons are tools to help humans
overcome their physical and psychological limitations in
order to inflict their will upon others. Democratic nations
seldom, if ever, go to war against each other, choosing
instead less destructive methods of influence.
Thus,
with the coming of the age of democracies, the time of wars
may be coming to an end, and the passing of war may also
mark the passing of some of the instruments of war. Indeed,
a precedence for an end to war can be found in weapons evolution.
It
has become increasingly obvious that each act of violence
breeds ever-greater levels of violence, and at some point
the genie must be put back in the bottle. The study of killing
in combat teaches us that soldiers who have had friends
or relatives injured or killed in combat are much more likely
to kill and commit war crimes.
The
world is just now recovering from the most violent and bloody
century in human history, and the streets of the western,
industrialized nations are the scenes of a level of violence
that is unprecedented in human history. Each individual
who is injured or killed by violence provides a point of
departure for further violence on the part of their friends
and family. Every destructive act gnaws away at the restraint
of human beings. Each act of violence eats away at the fabric
of our society like a cancer, spreading and reproducing
itself in ever-expanding cycles of horror and destruction.
The genie of violence cannot really ever be stuffed back
into the bottle. It can only be cut off here and now, and
then the slow process of healing and re-sensitization can
begin.
It can be done. It has been done in the past. As Richard
Heckler has observed, there is a precedent for limiting
violence-enabling technology. It started with the classical
Greeks, who for 4 centuries refused to implement the bow
and arrow even after being introduced to it in a most unpleasant
way by Persian archers.
In
Giving Up The Gun, Noel Perrin tells how the Japanese
banned firearms after their introduction by the Portuguese
in the 1500s. The Japanese quickly recognized that the military
use of gunpowder threatened the very fabric of their society
and culture, and they moved aggressively to defend their
way of life. The feuding Japanese warlords destroyed all
existing weapons and made the production or import of any
new guns punishable by death. Three centuries later, when
Commodore Perry forced the Japanese to open their ports,
they did not even have the technology to make firearms.
Similarly, the Chinese invented gunpowder but elected not
to use it in warfare.
But the most encouraging examples of restraining killing
technology have all occurred in this century. After the
tragic experience of using poisonous gases in World War
I the world has generally rejected its use ever since. The
atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty continues after two
decades, the ban on the deployment of anti-satellite weapons
is still going strong after two decades, the US and the
former USSR have been steadily reducing the quantity of
nuclear weapons for the past two decades, and we have seen
a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a new movement to eliminate
land mines. As we have de-escalated instruments of indiscriminate
mass destruction so too can we de-escalate instruments of
indiscriminate mass desensitization as entertainment in
the media.
Firearms probably will not go away any time soon, but their
abuse will almost definitely be strongly influenced by technology
that will make guns "keyed" so that they can only be
fired by a designated individual and will thereby be useless
to all others. Similarly, violence in the media will not
go away as long as there is a market for it, but there will
probably be movement away from indiscriminate violence-enabling
of children through violent video games and violence in
the media and toward protecting children from these things
while still permitting their availability to adults, in
much the same manner as alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs,
pornography, and guns.
Heckler points out that there has been "an almost unnoticed
series of precedents for reducing military technology on
moral grounds," precedents that show the way to understanding
that we do have a choice about how we think about war, about
killing, and about the value of human life in our society.
In recent years we have exercised the choice to move ourselves
from the brink of nuclear destruction. In the same way,
our society can also take the evolutionary steps away from
the technology that psychologically enables killing in children.
Education and understanding is the first step. The end result
may be for weapons evolution to take a considered step backward
and for our civilization to come through the dark years
of the 20th century and enter into a healthier, more self-aware
society.
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