How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #7
"It's curious that you used the Defense of Earth as a symbol or metaphor of peace, of the end of warfare. Yet it's not unfitting. Only very subtle. Dreams are endlessly subtle. Endlessly. For in fact it was that threat, that immediate peril of invasion by noncommunicating, reasonlessly hostile aliens, which forced us to stop fighting among ourselves, to turn our aggressive-defensive energies outward, to extend the territorial drive to include all humanity, to combine our weapons against a common foe. If the Aliens hadn't struck, who knows? We might, actually, still be fighting in the Near East." (6.98)
The idea that an alien invasion will cause world peace is rampant in sci-fi and pop culture, and you've probably seen it before. Exhibit A: Star Trek.) Exhibit B: Paul Krugman. But what do you think about it? Could it work?
Quote #8
Your own ideas are sane and rational, but this is my unconscious you're trying to use, not my rational mind. Maybe rationally I could conceive of the human species not trying to kill each other off by nations, in fact rationally it's easier to conceive of than the motives of war. But you're handling something outside reason. You're trying to reach progressive, humanitarian goals with a tool that isn't suited to the job. Who has humanitarian dreams?" (6.99)
It's interesting for George to be unable to understand war rather than peace, considering the fact that humanity seems to have constantly been at war for pretty much as long history has existed. Why do you think he is unable to understand why we wage war? Do you think Dr. Haber has the same problem?
Quote #9
But he had learned that they existed. He had grown up in a country run by politicians who sent the pilots to man the bombers to kill the babies to make the world safe for children to grow up in. (6.104)
Hmmm… someone's a little critical of politicians. We wonder why… Could it have something to do with pictures of the Vietnam War showing little children injured by warfare? Because that was a big deal back in the late '60s and early '70s.