@SleepingSilence I don't believe in good and evil, but I do think some companies can perform certain malicious actions that ripple into the future in ways that cause more harm to more people than a government can.

You're kidding about the UN not being useful, right? The Security Council is most likely just one more thing that stands between the status quo and another world war. Also, how do you figure that trillions of dollars have been spent on the UN? As far as I know, the UN budget has only experienced major increases since the mid-1970s. Do I think they need to keep upping their budget? Probably not.

<Snipped quote by Andreyich>
God no. World wars are catastrophic wastes of precious resources.

-snip-

<Snipped quote by SleepingSilence>
They can remain self sufficient by exploiting the easily accessible natural resources, and applying them in ways that remove the need for them to purchase goods and services from other parties. Gasoline and fresh water will be available to anyone with the right technologies, especially if those systems are capable of being built using raw materials available in the area.

I'm also aware that international waters aren't law-free zones.

Yeah, but I did say "most folks obviously don't have the means or inclinations to live that way".

<Snipped quote by Andreyich>
God no. World wars are catastrophic wastes of precious resources.

<Snipped quote by catchamber>

I think he meant this in the sense that war can allow nations to accrue very powerful economic and military hegemony over certain areas, essentially leading to a net increase in the resources at their disposal.

<Snipped quote by Didgeridont>
No, I got that, but it seems like another world war would lead to a lot of mutually assured destruction. A drastic loss of population, manpower, trust, infrastructure, credibility, morale, and natural resources is bad for business and geopolitics. Not only that, the odds that your side will actually become the hegemon is far from guaranteed, because there are so many classified and unpredictable elements that can't reasonably be accounted for.