Will men be able to give up toying with the idea of another war?

It is now a question of existence or non-existence, for the danger that threatens us now is of such

dimensions as to make this last European catastrophe, i.e. World War II, seem like a curtain-raiser. War is deeply

ingrained in our culture, our society, and our psyches. Through movies, television shows, and

video games, the entertainment industry glorifies the horrors of war. Politicians and bureaucrats

gain power through the fighting of wars, and many corporations are enriched through the production of the weapons of war.

War is also deeply embedded in our history.

We have fought wars since our time as hunter-gatherers, and war remains one of the most influential factors shaping the course of civilization.

But we face a dilemma. War may be entrenched in our society,

but the technologies of war have become so destructive that if war breaks out between two major powers,

it has the potential to end civilization as we know it. War, writes the historian Richard Gabriel,

has become an activity that has surpassed the ability of human beings to endure it.

In this video, we explore the psychology of man as it relates to war.

We examine whether we are psychologically built for the stress of war, if we are by nature killers,

and how militaries utilize psychological conditioning techniques to transform

young men from peace-loving beings into soldiers who kill on command.

Given the chronic persistence of war, the Latin proverb Homo homini Lupus, or man is a wolf

to man, seems to ring true, but other than a very small fragment of the population,

who displays psychopathic traits of excessive violence and aggression,

human beings are not psychologically fit to fight in modern wars.

Almost every soldier who spends time in active combat

on the front lines of a major war is psychologically harmed by the experience.

...