why is the world at war. or is life not worth living without it?

Question

love

Answer 1

Life is worth living, of course! I would say that it is because people are willing to kill for it, but isn't that the whole point here? We want to be safe. Most people are scared to die because we do like living, we believe in the future. Some people thinking that once the earth is "cleansed" this dream would then come true.
I don't think in most cases people are just going around picking a fight because they're not bored with life. They care about the future. Sometimes their "caring" is nothing more than hate.
Ideas that "well we don't need people like that on this earth" or "we'd be safer without these people" have kept us in war. But think about it, where there is killing- that is not life. It's the ending of it. Why would our life be about killing?

Answer 2

Argument against e fn w's answer:
**...wars resulted in a constant upgrading of both the physiological and intellectual acuity of man.***

That's assuming wars are fought only by the best and the brightest, which basically ignores the common foot soldier and completely ignores the element of chance. The Romans didn't manufacture the mountains and cold weather that stopped Hannibal's march, even though he was a tactical genius. The effect you attach to "the mechanics of war" is really just man's ability to learn. To learn from mistakes and to learn to apply knowledge to abstract situations. That has nothing to do with war, that's just how we are.

**...in the end [war] raises the average intelligence and the living standards of society as a whole.**

This is only true for winning side, and even more specifically for the ruling/wealthy class. I suspect the people on the losing side would completely disagree with you. Regardless, there is no human society "as a whole" and no global living standard. How does the standard of living for, say, a small tribe of people in the South Pacific compare to a group of homeless people in Los Angeles? According you you, the homeless man is doing far, far better because his society has landed on the moon? That hardly makes sense.

**...eliminating war in its capacity as a powerful contributor to evolution by keeping the world population in check.**

War is not a an evolutionary tool for population control. There were two "world wars" in Europe within 50 years of each other. And yet there are more people in Europe than ever before. Also other studies indicate that, globally, birth rates are down and the world population is in fact stabilizing. So even if we do see the 12 billion mark, you said so yourself that there aren't enough resources to handle all of us. So many people would die and the population would settle down to a number the resources could handle.

Finally, the world is not at war. By my count there are about 70 million soldiers in the entire world. Accounting for non-uniformed "combatants" I'll be generous and say an even 100 million soldiers. Say there are 6.5 billion people on the earth. That means 6.4 BILLION people are not at war. So if you FEEL like the world is at war, then your feelings are probably stemming from something else more personal.

Answer 3

life is worth living !!
The reason we go to war and the world is at war is because most of the world's leader's are arguing and can't seem to compromise with the other countries demands.Also September 11Th was tragic and the American's needed a way to go to war for payback so the only reason they could think of is oil so a war between America and Iraq started and it got us English involved

Answer 4

Armies, and wars in general, are needed as a natural part of human evolution. When you look at war from a long-range perspective, it becomes clear that, as destructive as wars are, their very destructiveness has served as the primary force for the evolution of the human race. By mercilessly elimnating those who were unable to survive in the theater of war, wars resulted in a constant upgrading of both the physiological and intellectual acuity of man.

Although many bright people perish in wars, the preponderance of the casualties occur among people with the limited intellectual capacity to understand the mechanics of wars and who are thus unable to avoid becoming casualties.

Who would seriosly dispute the fact that smart people have higher living standards than intellectually less endowed persons do? War elimnates the intellectually less fit and thus, in the end, raises the average intelligence and the living standards of society as a whole.

Throughout the ages, evolution took advantage of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, war, natural disasters, disease and famine.

If we succeed in eliminating armies and war, we are also eliminating war in its capacity as a powerful contributor to evolution by keeping the world population in check. We are now at 6 billion humans, scientific projections of growth predict 10 billion within 50 years...mostly in under developed countries. Humanity will reach the limits of available resources at 9-12 billion..this is not sustainable.

We can only speculate as to which path evolution will take in reducing the world from 10 to 3 billion. A battle for resources will favor those with higher levels of intelligence and rationality. Evolution never receds to irrationality, superstition and stupidity.

Answer 5

The world has always been at war. It's profitable to the people who make the decisions about it.

Answer 6

War is an economic machine that creates many things, and generates many jobs. We LOOK for reasons to have wars because of this.

Answer 7

I think life really isnt worth living period.

Answer 8

Greatest reason Religions, Which should be a paradox but isn't.

Answer 9

fear
and control issues