"The cycle of conquest, extermination, and revenge is the chronic condition of all 'civilized' states, and, as Plato observed, war is their 'natural' condition. Here, as was so often to happen later, the invention of the mega-machine, as the perfected instrument of royal power, produced the new purposes that it was later supposed to serve. In this sense the invention of the military machine made war 'necessary' and even desirable, just as the invention of the jet plane has made mass tourism 'necessary' and profitable." - (Mumford, L (1967). Technics and Human Development.)