... there were no wars?

Everyone knows that war is bad. But can you imagine a world, were we would never wage a war, and also never had one? Come, and explore this thought experiment with me.

One thing that no one can deny is that wars are the cause of massive numbers of deaths. It is estimated, that during human history, wars have killed between 150 million and 1 billion people. That would be up to almost 1% of all humans that have ever lived.

But wars also have a 'positive side to them. During wars, there have been countless scientific breakthroughs. This is due to the fact that oftentimes, innovation could give one side a significant advantage over the other, so lots of effort and money is spent on science during times of war. On top of that it brings the population down quite a bit, helping us to prevent overpopulation. Of course, war is also a prime example for Charles Darwin's principle of the survival of the fittest. Usually, the stronger and smarter side wins the war, and therefore survives.

But we can't just go back a couple hundred years and never start a war. Our world would have to change a lot for no wars to ever break out.

First of all, we need to understand that a peaceful coexistence would only be possible, if none of the different sides lacks something, for example space or food. That would mean that every nation/tribe/... would have to have exact control of what resources are being used and which not. In order for that to work, we would need to introduce hard population control measures, like China's one-child-policy, or even selective killings, should the population still rise over the sustainable limit. Even further, should a river dry out, our land become unfarmable, the nation/tribe/... that used the resource would have to go somewhere else, where the resource is available and not being used, and if that's not posssible, in order for this to work, they would have to voluntarily die off.

Also, we would not have any money anymore. It can only maintain a value, if there is something you need to exchange it for. If everyone has enough of everything he needs, there would be no need for money. Even if some nations/tribes/... start to trade goods, it could destroy the balance and ruin the whole thing.

As I mentioned before, humans would also be way weaker, both physically and intellectually. We would not be challenged mentally and physically, so all of us would be weaker and not as smart. The concept of survival of the fittest would not apply anymore and thus hinder our ability to move forward as a species.

On the other hand, we would probably experience peace, safety and happiness that we in our world can't even begin to comprehend. That could also be, why negative character traits, such as selfishness and ignorance would probably be less common, because no one would ever have to fear for their own well-being. The humanitarian side of such a world would be amazing to explore, and we could surely learn a lot from its inhabitants.