Andreas Toupadakis, Ph.D – Despite the fact that we live in a world of increasing violence in every walk of life, humans still have not lost hope; they talk about peace as they have done since the beginning of time. Some advocate peace by preparing for war; others advocate peace by preparing for peace.

I thought I could do peaceful work inside the United States’ nuclear labs, but I learned I was wrong. I realized that environmental and nuclear non-proliferation work was an illusion, and that purely academic projects are sustained to lure well-intentioned young scientists into weapons development programs. I also realized that if scientists stop developing the instruments of mass destruction, the government will be powerless to continue developing them. So I resigned from the nuclear labs, and chose instead to work for peace – and now I urge others to do the same.

Technological Violence

We cannot deny the fact that the magnitude of death and sorrow from a violent act is proportional to the degree of technological sophistication employed in the act: Wars with spears in the past cannot compare with the electronic, atomic wars of today. In past wars, mostly soldiers would die, but today mostly civilians die. The technology separates and dehumanizes us from the actual act of killing. In the past, a soldier saw the expression on the face of his opponent as he died. Today, however, thousands of people can be vaporized instantly, while others can languish in pain for years, and future generations can be affected. But the person who launched the initial weapon will have seen nothing of this but some data on a computer screen. Continue reading →