Anyone remember that old Star Trek episode “A Taste of Armageddon<\/a>“? The one where countries had been fighting wars for so long, they’d honed the process to a science and made death painless and clinical? Just thinking about it today is terrifying. Not the effects, or the script, but the thought of commodifying war, turning it into a game we play on computer screens.<\/p>\n

Hmm.<\/a><\/p>\n

Is that us? Have we fooled ourselves into believing that war happens somewhere else? What if someone dropped a bomb on us tomorrow afternoon, while we’re sitting at our jobs, or driving to an appointment, or picking our kids up from daycare? Would we be prepared to trade our comfort for the chance to fight and live and die live humans, outside of a box?<\/p>\n

I guess the real question is: Are you a Picard<\/a> or a Kirk<\/a>? Personally, I’d punch me some aliens.<\/p>\n