The quote “I don't know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones,” by Albert Einstein gives a short and direct synopsis of human behavior and shows the vulnerability of our existence due to that behavior. The use of implicit deductive referencing and explicit inductive facts form a multi-layered foundation for a thought provoking conclusion. The more layers you unfold the more depth and irony become evident in this short but sourly sweet quote.
The deductive characteristics of the quote can be seen in the reference to WW III and later in WW IV. The first deductive layer is he doesn’t know because World War III has yet to occur. The reason it’s implicit is because using “will be” the aphorism refers to the future and by asserting the truth that the future is undecided you get an indirect logically valid statement. The WW IV reference is deductive because of an idiom not found in the text’s literal meaning. In inferring your understanding of human behavior you can read much more than what the words alone can say. For example the behavior of creating progressively smarter, more accurate and deadlier technologies because we think it makes those who wield them safer. The implications of inferring valid understandings of human behavior and evaluating them in the context of this quote are limitless examples of implicitly deductive conclusions. The conclusions you draw are mostly direct criticisms of human nature.
The inductive parts of the quote are the same as the deductive except without making inferences to complete the quote’s logic. The first is “I don’t know with what weapons World War III will be fought, the other is “World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” When not looked at as an idiom the words lose their magic and ability to spark creative philosophical thought. On the other hand completely ignoring the literal understanding would destroy the pathos of the quote. It would be analogous to trying to read a book by only reading the words found on one side of each page. The humor and connection to the audience lies in the comedic format of the quote. Where the leading half separated by the comma is like a set-up and the latter half the punch line. For me a lot of the actual humor comes from the irony in combination with the comedic structure made evident in the inductive parts of the quote.
The most difficult part about analyzing this quote is correctly teasing out the irony I’m fairly confident exists, from the juxtapositions. One juxtaposition is the future is undecided yet WW IV will be fought using sticks and stones. Both parts of the juxtaposition can be viewed as examples of logos but by placing them one right after another you get a contrasting comparison and in some ways even a contradiction. There is also irony, specifically in the conclusions I draw like improving humanity is advantageous; technology can be used to improve humanity; we use technology to destroy our ability to create it. This is an example of irony because as societies try to improve the human condition through violent conflict resolution they actually succeed in doing exactly the opposite. Another example of irony is Einstein’s both a contributing inventor of a WMD and is being critical of it devastating effects on humanity.
The quote’s diction is surprisingly simple considering the author, but this does not at all make the ideas and rhetoric simple. Some examples of simplicity are no words exceed 2 syllables, it’s very common language, 7 of the 23 words repeat and 6 of those words are in the exact same order. The very end of the quote even ends in the cliché saying “sticks and stones.” The diction of the quote is a sign that its creator is being cognizant of his audience and their needs.
This quote’s audience is everyone because it’s trying to make people understand a kind of ethics that can improve all our lives. It shows us that our future is at this point and time in a state of unprecedented vulnerability. It’s vulnerable not because of the destructive capacity and degradation of humanity technology provides us but because our ethical ideologies are corrupt. What we understand to be advantageous increasingly becomes hindering, what is good becomes self gratifying and ethics embody possessions we barter and later discard as old fads. Sadly this quote will likely be an accurate prediction of our future. On the other hand if we allow our ingenuitive capacity to plateau maybe our scars will remind us never to pick up the sticks and stones in the same manner as before.
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