War, why?

With the current tensions being felt all over the world stemming from the epicenter of the Russia-Ukraine conflict I couldn’t help but make an observation on war.

Now I will not make any political standpoints nor even attempt to unpack the details of what’s going between those countries, however, I will say this:

Why on earth does war still exist?

I mean that genuinely. Why does war still exist amongst us as a people. It seems, to me, completely out of place.

We as humans throughout our history have made grave mistakes with planet-altering consequences. We have also made beautiful creations and built civilizations, relationships, and culture for Millenia.

For the most part it seems to me that we individually have learned from our mistakes, but as a group we have failed to.

Why do our individual experiences not translate to a group?

To speak generally humans do not like to fight. Sure, we have turned argumentation into a sport, but I am talking of physical altercations.

If you yourself have been in a fist fight you know that this is not an optimum solution.

When I say fist fight I mean fist fight. Blood was shed and spirits were broken.

We’ve learned this lesson, some of us quicker than others, but overall it is a no-brainer that physical altercations do not produce any type of positive result for either party.

This is a sensible way of thinking and it is my conviction that the best way to win a fight is to avoid one. Never let an altercation boil to the point of brutality. It just doesn’t help anybody.

Now most of us know this. I’m certain that I’m preaching to the choir at this point so why on earth does this not translate on a group level?

A civilization is made up of individuals. While the individual can be bright, rational, and level-headed put that same human in a group and suddenly they are ready to end lives.

How on earth does that even happen?

It just seems completely off the rails. Even for us.

We’ve produced so many things on this planet for the betterment of humanity as a whole and yet we still kill each other in masses during war.

We are better than this.

I don’t write this to be critical of the world, quite the opposite. I am trying to understand why this is even done in the first place so we can look toward a better solution.

In the U.S. educational system History is taught as a requirement in order to pass on to the next grade level. Whenever anybody would ask why we’re learning about the things that happened so long ago and why it mattered we were always given the same response:

“If you don’t know history than you are doomed to repeat it.”

Well, here we are.

A Thought Experiment

Imagine this: You are an intelligent life-form from another planet and star system. Your civilization has existed for trillions of years and mastered the science of interstellar travel.

You and your co-pilot are scouting the different corners of the cosmos when you come across planet earth.

“What do we have here Admiral?” You say to your co-pilot.

“Well, Sir, it appears we have a young civilization that call themselves ‘Humans.’” He responds

“Fascinating, tell me about life on their planet.”

“Yes sir, they have imaginary boarders on all their inhabitable lands. Not all of their kind is permitted to travel freely between these boarders and they’ve yet to inhabit the entirety of their planet.

Furthermore, they appear to use some sort of currency system that they make themselves from a plant material that grows natively on their planet. They seem to have conflict over this currency, often.

Their political system appears to be completely divided and they currently use weapons of their own creation to destroy each other in masses during periods of disagreement.”

You contemplate silently for a few moments before speaking.