Mankind versus the H-Bomb

Abstract

OPPONENTS those who disagree with them, but these men themselves become hysterical as soon as they realize that there are no rational arguments in support of their case. The sort of men who consider themselves practical, both in the East and West, appear to be incapable of grasping, or at any rate of acting upon, one quite simple fact, namely: from the present moment onwards until (if ever) scientific technique has been forgotten, any great war will, in all likelihood, involve the extinction of the human race. People who are not practical, but are of the sort called starry-eyed idealists, will draw from this fact the conclusion that it would be a good thing to avoid great wars. They will proceed to argue that policies which make a great war likely are undesirable and that, if you wish human life to continue, you should advocate measures which would prevent great wars. The people who think otherwise do not directly controvert these platitudes, but take refuge in rhetoric. They quote Patrick Henry's exclamation, Give me liberty or give me death ! They do not realize that this sentiment will have to be differently expressed if it is to be applicable to our time. If they could for one instant achieve thought not dominated by cliches, they would alter the wording and, as they looked round among their growing children, they would exclaim, Give me liberty AND give THEM death! I think it just possible that the growing children might not wholly appreciate the noble morality of this new slogan, especially if they realized that their death would be likely to be slow and agonizing. The matter is too grave for slogans, and I should wish to consider it as dispassionately as if it were a chess problem. White should represent humanity and red the H-bomb. Can white think of moves by which red will be mated ? There are such moves, but there is much reason to fear that humanity may prefer defeat to adopting them. The problem is to prevent a great war. This problem has two parts : first to arrive at expedients such as shall prevent the outbreak of war in the near future; and second, to create such