In the human mind, wars are fought for righteous causes. In human experience, this has very rarely been the case. The Bangladesh war of liberation could be cited as among the exceptions. Even the strict Kshatriya code has been shown to be very difficult to follow in the Mahabharata and other ancient epics. Dharma is not easily defined in the constantly changing circumstances. It required the righteous an extra effort to follow ‘principles’ in the face of superior skills and technologies in the hands of the unscrupulous. Even Krishna had to withdraw from the battlefield in the face of insurmountable numbers.
Humanity today faces this dilemma in increasingly unprecedented manner with the entirely avoidable but seemingly unstoppable conflicts in the Ukraine and Gaza. There are many parts of the world where conflict has raged for many years, now, but nobody cares to notice. The much vaunted advancement in civilisation has not just been unable to halt this bloodshed, but has actually made matters worse with the development of even more lethal weapons. Knowledge of history communicated over the millennia to the present era should have provided leaders the skills of avoiding mistakes and negotiating positive results when differences arise, but that is clearly not the case. The same old barbaric, ego-centric and self-serving interests continue to motivate tribes, communities and nations. The valuable achievements of economic and social effort of decades, even centuries, are thrown away in the course of a day due to the foolishness of a few. The price has to be paid by the many.
Could it be that human beings have evolved to a point where they can no longer be more civilised, even as their technological achievements continue of their own accord? Is the consciousness of existence now going to be transferred to a sort of new, Artificial Intelligence run, self-created being? Maybe human security will need to be built into machines programmed to ensure nobody crosses the red line, for it is clear that the highest platforms like the UNSC cannot find solutions to even pointless conflicts. Would it mean greater freedom or an end to exercise of free will? Will security come, eventually, at the price of freedom? If humanity continues to go down the present road, the likelihood of such an occurrence is very much possible.
