 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
The most important form that the power impulse takes at the present day is rivalry. When men could only fight with sharp flints or with spears, and when the human population of the globe was small, fighting between tribes could lead to complete victory by the stronger tribe and perhaps to something deserving to be called survival of the fittest. There was therefore no Darwinian reason for diminution of the impulse to rivalry. But with every new skill in the art of war this has become less true, and at the present moment warlike skill is the chief danger facing the continuation of our species.
Source: Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, part II: The Conflict of Passions, chapter 3: Forethought and Skill, n.17
More info.： https://russell-j.com/cool/47T-2_0317.htm
* a brief comment
By ‘Darwinian reason’ Russell seems to be referring here to ‘natural selection in terms of survival of the fittest’. Competition, whether between individuals or between groups, had many positive aspects when science and technology were less developed. However, as technology has developed, the power differential between those in power who have access to its results and ordinary citizens who do not has grown so great that ‘competition on equal terms’ has become a mere figure of speech in many areas.
Particularly serious is the science and technology involved in war. In Hitler's time, many Jews were slaughtered by the ‘advanced technology’ of the gas chambers. In modern times, the presidents of the largest nuclear-weapon states, the USA and the USSR, are even capable of annihilating humanity through nuclear war. Of course, even presidential orders are supposed to be subject to multiple checks, as the president may give the order due to mental illness. However, it is unfortunately very difficult to say that ‘nuclear war would never actually happen’ because every authority has a sense of decency (for example, even Trump).
* Amazon Gift Card
