[color=00AEFF]”Why would we be peaceful just because we are currently the only intelligent species around? Are you trying to say you’ve never had a war between two groups of Tekeri, or two groups of Glen? Resources, land, religious and political disputes are still going to be a thing. And we didn’t need someone to be completely different to decide we don’t like them either, sad as that is. We’ve moved past that at least, save an odd degenerate or two. And oh my, can we fight! One of the most destructive, if not the most destructive conflict in our history was waged over 350 years ago, lasted six years”[/color] Vigdis quickly recalculated the times to a number of K-A days for Kareet’s benefit, as that was the only known local unit of measurement. [color=00AEFF]”spanned the entire world and took over 70 million lives. That would be…“[/color] Another wristpad-aided conversion, [color=00AEFF]”at least 413 016 600 dead to put it in base 8 as you use.”[/color] She wrote the numbers on the large tablet in case orders of magnitude didn’t translate properly. Vigdis remembered Kareet writing down the explanation of numbers she wrote on the shuttle bay wall, so that should be understandable, even if she might have to look up the reference chart.

[color=00AEFF]”We have a holiday to commemorate the fallen, regardless of which side they fought on, but we don’t exactly ‘venerate’ warriors. There were at times cultures and religions who held martial prowess in high regard - the island my family comes from was discovered by people whose faith claimed only those who fell valiantly in battle would go to the good part of their afterlife - but not anymore. That was, what, 1200 years ago?”[/color] She made a guess, once again converting the time to K-A days. [color=00AEFF]”But pretty much every nation has a standing army. It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it, plus an army is a lot of fit people with useful equipment who are used to working together, which is useful if you need to clean up a natural disaster, like a flood or a volcanic eruption. A few nations still retain conscription, but most human soldiers are volunteers, joining up for one reason or another.”[/color] Vigdis chose not to let Kareet know most humans instead venerated celebrities and online influencers, not knowing where to begin explaining those to a late medieval bird.

[color=00AEFF]”But for all the bad things about war, it would be dishonest not to mention how conflict drives innovation. I don’t mean to promote warfare, but for example, the technology that enables us to leave a planet began as an alternative to our alternative to a catapult during that war I mentioned earlier. Flying machines, weather forecasting, machines that allow us to see heat given off by objects an let us see in complete darkness, ships that sail underwater, countless medicines, computers…“[/color] She tapped her wristpad and the tablet to indicate the last one, having noticed the locals calling them ‘golems’, [color=00AEFF]”All were initially developed for or had its development accelerated by military use, sometimes by accident.”[/color] She still couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of microwave ovens being invented when a technician working on a radar antenna noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket was melting.