# In the Future the Human Species Will Unite to Fight Alien Species by John Horgan > “Many people find my optimism naive, if not delusional. Last semester, I taught a class called "War and Human Nature," and my students polled classmates on the following question: "Do you think humanity will ever stop fighting wars once and for all time?" Of the 205 respondents, 185 replied "No"; 20 said "Yes" or "Maybe. " Several of the "optimists" added comments like "Yes, war will end when the human race will end," and "Yes, because in the future the human species will unite to fight alien species. "” > **— John Horgan**, *2007, Edge Annual Question, “What Are You Optimistic About?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Director, the Center for Science Writings, Stevens Institute of Technology; Author, Rational Mysticism](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10388) — Edge published this exact passage in its 2007 Annual Question collection, *WHAT ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC ABOUT?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2007 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2007 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the complete response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|Never Going to Make It!]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Article:** [[articles/Christopher Nolan's Odyssey at the Threshold of Machine Succession|Nolan's Odyssey]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Major Evolutionary Transitions|Major Evolutionary Transitions]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Major Evolutionary Transitions|Major Evolutionary Transitions]] - [[wiki/Coevolution|Coevolution]] - [[wiki/Evolutionary Dynamics|Evolutionary Dynamics]] - [[wiki/Evolvability|Evolvability]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Many people find my optimism naive, if not delusional. Last semester, I taught a class called "War and Human Nature," and my students polled classmates on the following question: "Do you think humanity will ever stop fighting wars once and for all time?" Of the 205 respondents, 185 replied "No"; 20 said "Yes" or "Maybe. " Several of the "optimists" added comments like "Yes, war will end when the human race will end," and "Yes, because in the future the human species will unite to fight alien species. "” — John Horgan, 2007, Edge Annual Question, “What Are You Optimistic About?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-john-horgan-future-human-species-unite-fight ```