War with the Robots

Man may some day outgrow his interest In war, but don’t hold your breath. The combative urge was such a strong factor in scaling the evolutionary ladder that it cannot be easily put aside; and while the idea of war may terrify us and disgust us, the prehistoric bodies we wear still react enthusiastically when the drums roil and the cannons rumble by. As witness our present situation — we watch with fascinated interest as all sorts of ingenious and dedicated people work up the weapons that can, if That Button ever gets pushed, wipe us all from this planet.

Should this not happen, man will very likely cheerfully export his wars to the rest of the galaxy. If the alien races encountered are not warlike enough to fight back, too bad for them. And if there aren’t enough aliens around to fight, man will just have to fight his oldest enemy. Himself. Of course, his companions, the robots, will fight as well. And it’s all too clear that in some ways a robot would be a perfect soldier — less destructible, more efficient at destruction… and, of course, you can build in the killer-instinct…