The future war weapons

Title

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XX (No. 10) October 1968

Year

1968

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Biological weapons instead of atomic bombs are more likely to be used in future wars

Fulltext

■ Biological weapons instead of atomic bombs are more likely to be used in future wars if the an nihilation of man is to be avoided. THE FUTURE WAR WEAPONS Bomb construction know how is now available to make weapons, probably clandes tine weapons, but the moti vations stemming from na tionalism are also present. For example, the West Ger mans have objected (to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty on the grounds that it gives away commercial se crets and that countries not possessing nuclear explosives for engineering purposes will be at a disadvantage. Realis tically, we must admit that in view of weapons develop ment in , other nations the Germans feel their national interests could best be serv ed if they also had nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the French continue with their own nu clear tests, as does Red China. It would do the human race a great disservice to assume that the present non-prolife ration treaty and nuclear test ban have brought us nuclear peace. Quite the contrary, they probably have driven underground some efforts to create nuclear weapons on part of those not now pos sessing them. Only time will tell if this is true. In the meantime, a gigantic effort must be made by all powers, nuclear and non-nuclear, to bring these weapons under control while man searches for another means to serve national aspirations in inter national competition. However, much as we would like to deny it, we now face an entirely new kind of arms race — stemming from research in areas of bioche mistry. We may fear the wea pon that is invisible and un seeable so much that we try to wish it out of existence, yet such weapons are becom ing available for human con trol. These may be chemicals that could be put into the water systems of cities, or gases that may reduce the will of people to act, that may alter memory, or may October 1968 23 paralyze a large population — not by killing or wound ing them, but by rendering them temporarily slaphappy and careless. By such means, in the future, profound changes in human behavior and perhaps reproduction could be obtained. Yet the advantages of such new wea pons also should be clear. Since the beginning of his tory, and therefore of con flict, man has used his wea pons to inflict death or se vere bodily damage on his opponents. Now research is on the threshold of producing agents that temporarily halt or tranquilize hostile groups without hurting them. For many years we have captured and medically treated wild animals this way — by shoot ing tranquilizer pellets into them, not bullets. Such agents can now be used to halt criminals. In riots or situations of widespread vio lence, looting, and burning, violent masses of people can be brought, under control without needlessly , killing hundreds of innocent by standers — yet our conven tional and unthinking atti tudes about the control of be havior lead us to reject such chemical methods. Whether we like the face of the future or not, however, these psychological chemicals will be with us and we had better learn their implications and how to use them for be nefit to mankind. As with nuclear explosives, we can not forget the new is here. We must learn how to con trol it for the benefit of all. The era of biological wea pons brings us to a new threshold in history — one in which the weapons of one nation against others are no longer relevant. For the coming conflict is man against nature, his own pro liferation, and the resources of the small earth on which our growing multitudes live. If we still think of wea pons systems today — and we consider the coming gen eration of drugs and agents that will control mood and behavior — the research be hind it is yet more awesome and productive, for it is re search into the workings of the human brain, the inner space of the mind. Research into this inner space will pro bably be far more rewarding 24 Panorama for human life than research into outer space. In future medicine there may be no ex cuse for people to suffer mental retardation all their lives; we may be able to pre vent many of the crippling emotional diseases that today hospitalize millions. We may improve upon the intelligence and memory. But most ur gent, we must understand ourselves sufficiently to con trol behavior — to prevent violence in a crowded world, and, perhaps most important, to prevent ourselves from abusing and ruining the re sources of our environment with pollution and over-popu lation. — Excerpts of an article by Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin, Saturday Review, August 31, 1968. ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ... let the court act, but without incitements to cruelty, without martial laws, without barbarism or clemency. Let it perform its mission quietly, care fully, serenely, like one who is conscious of its power and of its august ministry. It must not go down to the level of vengeance. Examine impartially the facts and when it has to meet out a penalty, be very careful and incline more towards benevolence, for aside from the fact that man is fragile, there is the high political consideration of not revealing racial animosity, inasmuch as the one who has to judge the criminal is of the same color as the deceased. And more than elsewhere judges ought to consider that in the Philippines climate affects passions, that in a state of anemia, owing to the heat, it pro duces an unbalanced condition which is manifested nervous irritability; that the hamok or momentary obfuscation, is a phenomenon observed in the Malay race, sometimes provoked by hunger, heat, etc. — By Jose Rizal in the Article, “Let Us Be Just”, La Solidaridad, 15 April 1896. October 1968 25

pages

23+

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