    38

    The Puzzle of Complacency

    In a world where some cultures elevate violence to a virtue, the

    dream of peace can be fatal.  It can make us forget that our enemies are

    real and can blind us to the dark imperatives of the superorganismic

    pecking order.

    For thousands of years, China was an Empire of unbelievable

    size and stability.  Its technology and wealth were the envy of its

    neighbors.  In 221 B.C., the Chinese laid out a standard length for the

    axles of carts.  The result: a wagon could roll over tens of thousands of

    miles of highway, and its wheels would fit precisely in the ruts left by

    previous travelers.115  The Chinese had paper money and uniform

    standards of weights and measures while Europe was still blundering

    through the Dark Ages.116  Chinese weaponry and military strategy

    were light years ahead of anything else around.  While Roman

    Emperors were still relying on mechanical catapults, Chinese generals

    were deploying gunpowder mortars.117  As early as the fourth century

    B.C., Chinese princes were already sending armies of half a million

    men into battle.  And those legions were equipped with hardware the

    Europeans of their time could not even imagine.  They had trig-

    ger-operated crossbows, chain-mail armor, and swords and spears of a

    miracle metal--steel.118

    But the Chinese were periodically blinded by their own power.

    Slipping into the cheerful conviction that they could simply wish

    warfare away, they overlooked the potential of barbarians.   One of the

    first to make that mistake was Chinese Emperor Wu-ti. In 280 AD, Wu-

    ti took a good look at the colossus over which he ruled, and discovered

    that it was in economic trouble.  Trade was in a shambles.  The people

    were poor, and burdened with unbearable taxation.  When Wu-ti

    examined the problem more carefully, he quickly found its root.  China

    was being dragged into the pit by a burden that had grown like a

    cancer: her military budget.  Taxes were sopped up by the needs of a

    <<  <  GO  >  >>