Why are we not working harder to find the causes of war?

[coyjay]

Why are we not searching for the causes of war? Why is the whole world not working for Peace?

The following is from Krishnamurti: “The question we must put to ourselves, in spite of the immediate action to be taken, is whether it is possible to stop all wars, not a particular kind of war, the nuclear or the orthodox, and find out most earnestly what are the causes of war. Until these causes are discovered, dissolved, whether conventional or the nuclear form of war, we will go on and man will destroy man.”

Why are we not making every effort to find the cause of War?

Coyjay

[JECompton]

Maybe we're too busy trying to find a cure for HIV/AIDS. A good alert system would have spared hundreds of thousands of lives that died in the December 2004 tsunami. Have the Iraq casualties even reached 10% of those deaths?

Yes, war is dramatic and essentially unnecessary. Yet in light of what we can do with technology, the tsunami deaths were unecessary, and hopefully so will HIV and cancer deaths. Even death from starvation should be a rarity.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not arguing that we should be caloused against war. War in itself is not good. It's just that it's not at the top of the international "to do" list in terms of raw numbers.

Secondly, nations find war profitable for a number of reasons including defense contracts, power, and resources. If the cost in lives is relatively low and the yield relatively high in terms of overall national prosperity, war will be put even lower on the list.

As far as the public is concerned, people are generally selfish, or at least concerned with that which is a more immediate problem. Most are too busy impressing some love interest and making ends meet than seriously worrying about what's going on far away.

Also, we have a tendency to address problems only after they have become severe. You can be sure the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean are working earnestly to get a tsunami warning system in place now, even though there may not be another tsunami of that magnitude for thousands of years. Until a truly hideous war happens throughout the entire world, we may never address the issue.

This seems foolish to me. Technology, especially nuclear and bio-weapon technologies, has made war a serious threat to all the life on the planet. I hope we don't have to wait for such a war to care...

[Maduro_Scotty]

Why are we not searching for the causes of war? Why is the whole world not working for Peace? Why are we not making every effort to find the cause of War?


The cause is very simple-an elementary desire for resources, goods, and cheap labor. Those that possess the goods are forced upon by those with the most power who desire those things. The world is not working for peace as the exploited nations are convulsing in their own society about freedom and what kind of governmental system they should have. International arms dealers and other people help pour fuel onto the fire so to speak, in order to make a quick buck. We aren't making every effort to find the cause of it, as being in the "rogue power" state allows us to justify that anything that we are fighting for is to obtain peace. There's a similar tautology that was popular in the 60's, but I can't really use it here. ;) :p

[ArthurDent]

I think that the reasons/excuses for war are pretty clear. Just check any or all of the following for relevance:

Religion
Land
Money (That includes control over natural resources, as well as Ecconomic situation for which the war is a distraction etc.)
"Honor"

There are probably others that I'm missing, but what I'm saying is that people are human. Humans have weaknesses and as long as we have them, there will be wars.

If there's one thing I'm absolutely sure of, it is that wars will never end. The only thing that will unite the world, is a common war against extreterestrials.

:) or rather :(

[JECompton]

Given your premise, Arthur, that war is inevitable because it's human, I'd have to add another possibility:

transhumanism! If we can radically alter the human race through technology to the point we can no longer be called human, we might be able to escape war. After all, if we are all part of one cybernetically telpathic hive mind that pretty much shares all thoughts and ultimate goals in common, war will be pointless.

[Jezebel]

Why are we not making any effort to find the cause of war? Because the cause of war is poor communication and childish adults in power and no person likes to admit they need to improve on anything. We should elect leaders based on how mentally healthy their children come out. Too bad the vast majority of people are unhealthy or stupid. Oh, there you go, more causes of war. Sorry, I'm in a very bad mood tonight.

[Maduro_Scotty]

Scary idea there JECompton!. :o Even if we did that, we could possibly have something out of the whole I, Robot movie or something. If anything, such technology would be used to create an army of drones or something. It reminds me of the recently declassified documents out of the former Soviet Union concerning Stalin's fascination with creating a hybrid-human. Evidently, Joseph Stalin had a researcher try and create a hybrid human/ape creature to have great stamina and physical abilities. I'm not certain that transhumanism is the answer, but perhaps a more humanistic outlook on life would change things. The thing that freaks me out is that we are living in a time where there is no end goal for which we are striving. In previous eras, we had visions of some form of utopian idealism. While utopia is an unreachable state, there is nothing wrong with wanting the best or of desiring to improve society as a whole. So what has happened?

[one_raven]

"Yes, God and the politicians willing, the United States can declare peace upon the world, and win it." - Ely Culbertson
War is not profitable for nations.
War is profitable for inidividuals who run nations.
The people in power have no interest in searching for the end to war.
Until the people grasp, and fully run with, the concepts and ideals that define democracy.
Until they stop electing leaders and start electing representatives, war will not end.
Why should it if those in power profit from it in many ways and do not run any real risk from it?