>You know. I think that's we have so many wars so costly in lives: in order to "cull" our population. It's all in God's plan. And the more populous the world gets the bigger the cull. Think of the Napoleonic Wars, then WW I, then WW II (more costly in human lives than all the other wars in history put together, inc. WW I) Without these, along with the pogroms of Statlin and Mao, just imagine what the world popn. would be like today, and Europe would already be at war with the USA, China and India over Russia's oil, instead of later on this century

>Then when WW III comes, we'll be back out to pasture.

USA/EU vs China/India is my guess. Although there isn't much love lost between the latter two.

Unfortunately, I tend to agree with you, that the larger the population and the longer a period without conflict is, the more horrific the struggle will be when it comes. At least when it is between major powers (or coalitions). But the same will be true with the next pandemic.

Anyway, those are theories best spun over a nice single malt.