by, Mahanth

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” – Albert Einstein

In prehistoric times, we don’t know exactly when, the human animal learned how to start a fire harnessing basic but profound scientific principles: hydrocarbons reacting with oxygen to generate heat. At one moment soon after that manmade fire spread like fire, continuously burning round the clock somewhere or the other. Fire never ended, only grew to form a collective terrestrial eternal flame in millions of satellite locations, a scathing hot tool that never died in the embers.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Firepower became the flagship tool of war soon enough. Philosophically, perhaps naively, I viewed modern American power projection onto the world at its best as deterring and putting out fires. Firefighting, not policing the world. It’s necessary for America and for humanity to not burn the whole thing down. Scorched earth means extinction of our own hands. The dawn of the current potential apocalypse phase opened with a boom, heralding the advent of inevitable atomic annihilation of our species. A ticking time bomb following that very simple formula cavemen learned much earlier to its logical conclusion: hydrocarbons reacting with oxygen, except gone thermonuclear.

Once opened, that window never shuts, it only widens. Today, we Americans are the ones igniting the biggest ever conflagration, burning the same depleting hydrocarbons in war that we need for modern society to survive in peace. The only logical way this escalation ends is nuclear holocaust sooner or later. From the dawn of a new age, to the sunset phase of our existence, all in relentless logical progression. The only thing coming next is complete darkness for all, the very same darkness from whence we came, once the fire of consciousness is snuffed out by our own doing forever.

Until February 28, 2026 I believed the United States of America stood as the City on a Hill keeping the light burning for a bit longer. I was wrong.

Instead we are actually the ones starting the fire that will put out all fires. Many will go down in flames, supposedly fighting for their version of God in a crusade to nothing left but ashes. Extinguishing that very same eternal flame that most think “God” created.