Earth, the planet in the Solar System that miraculously gave birth to life. The Earth has great beauty and diversity; the animals known as humans have evolved to acquire such strength that they even think about controlling this planet for themselves. From the point of view of a planet's life the life of a living thing last no more than an instant. But in the end, it is only themselves the humans can think of, nothing changes. It is worth wondering if humankind started asking for too much from this little world.
I hear the main purpose of technological development to improve the lives of humankind on earth; perhaps it is to make up for what the planet cannot give us. But what is, or has been, one of the greatest and perhaps most frightening technological development? The kind of technology I’m talking about is military power. The names of Hiroshima and Nagasaki should always be remembered as examples of what we have accomplished. One can't speak of history without referring to wars in each era as important events; it was the use of the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that brought the Second World War to its end and it is the threat of even greater weaponry that holds off a Third World War; it is known that a total nuclear war could destroy life as we know it.
Wars throughout history have claimed many lives, and though humankind has never been able to forget the sorrow caused by these wars they have not stopped fighting. So why do people fight anyway? Perhaps the meaning of human existence lies within their will to fight. People feel a sense of accomplishment through battle, often when fighting for something they believe in. Nowadays this so-called ‘western’ world, this collection of developed nations, usually fights in the name of peace. Battling tyrants and unfriendly regimes in the world, so that people can be free, liberated. I'm sure the pale pep talks of fighting for peace have been repeated numerous times in the past. And it's also worth mentioning that the ones actually fighting aren’t always perceived as being tainted. If on our side, they were fighting a just cause, perhaps acting under difficult conditions in the only way they knew how, for better or for worse. If they are the opposition, most of those who actually fight are seen as being ‘forced’ in some way, mere puppets whose strings are being pulled by some higher authority who we would see as ‘evil’, as the ultimate enemy that we would seek to overthrow.
But in the end, wars will always result in death regardless of what the justification is. We have become so used to fighting all the time that we have forgotten how to co-exist in peace; someone will always want to control other people, destroy other people, and someone else will always stand to oppose them in the name of some other cause…in short, there will always be wars, and the act of fighting in these wars will become as natural as breathing. If this is allowed to happen, if it has not done so already without my realising it, will the blood and tears shed in battle become merely ceremonial? Maybe it could, maybe not, I cannot say for certain. I cannot tell the future, only make a small prediction based on what trends I see occurring.
Returning to present time, present day, I seek to make a final prediction. We live an age where people dream of the possibilities in outer space, where they could start from scratch. People predict we will learn to colonise other nearby planets, such as Mars and the Moon. People dream of the beginning of a new era, a pacifist utopia in outer space, a more stable existence free of war. However, it's unthinkable that these future colonies or that humankind will ever forget their motherland, their true home, the Earth. And what technologies will be brought to these colonies from the Earth? No doubt military technology will be one of them. The false pacifism born in a false living space would crumble, the power struggles would begin in a repetition of Earth, and war would continue in a new environment. In my mind there is one simple truth, that despite the best wishes of many people, outer space is nothing but a breeding ground for even more battles in the future. A dark and desolate field awaiting the seeds of humankind to be sown, that the crops of war will once again be reaped, along with human lives.
But I have said enough. This is something that I see in my own mind. It may not be what you see, and it won’t have to be unless you want it to. Belief or disbelief rests with you, and it is here that I end my speech.
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