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SUMMARY
War and the preparation for war divert increasingly scarce resources from civilian use, especially long-term efforts such as the quest for sustainable use of the planet. War also damages natural systems both directly and indirectly. As a consequence, ecosystem services essential to sustainability are diminished. Achieving world peace does not assure that sustainable use of the planet will also be achieved, but it is a necessary precursor. Other factors diminishing the prospects for sustainability include major and rapid demographic changes, addiction to exponential economic growth, excessive individualism, and production of artifacts and wastes not readily reincorporated into natural systems. On the other hand, if intelligence is not an evolutionary mistake, then it, combined with reason and creativity, can be used to overcome the obstacles just mentioned. If intelligence is an evolutionary mistake, the creatures that ran the world before humans appeared will doubtless take over again.