ABSTRACT
War is easy. But to paraphrase Clausewitz, even the easiest aspects of war are very difficult. War is boring. It is harder to not go to war – through diplomacy – than to resort to violence. In the history of humanity, it seems as if mankind turns to violence and war as a rule, rather than as an exception. And that is why it needs to be studied and understood, so that military thinkers can be better at their jobs, and hopefully end war. But that is a pipe dream; war will coexist with humanity for the foreseeable future. The seemingly only bright light at the end of the tunnel is to try to understand war fully and completely so that war can be prosecuted with speed and efficiency in order to end it quickly with complete resolution, leading directly to peace and hopefully a better social situation in the aftermath than at the beginning. Thus, avoiding war is more difficult than fighting, but both should be understood more fully. War in the future is inevitable. Humans will find reasons to compete and resort to conflict, and will turn against others with violence to achieve political goals. The speculation is whether war will continue as it exists today, or if the nature and character of war will change into the future. But if we attempt to speculate on the future of war, we will have to try to be logical, rational, and reasonable in our predictions. Future conceptualization of war has to be based in reality, with consideration for not only technological evolution but also probable technological revolutions.
