VOX POPULI: Our animal instincts tell us to get rid of nukes

Some years ago, I read a foreign news report about chimpanzees in western Africa that use "weapons." According to the report, they chew tree branches to fashion spear-like weapons for hunting.

The story made headlines as the first case in which the "production of weapons" was observed among animals other than humans.

When mankind first started making weapons, the devices must have been very primitive. But now, humans make nuclear weapons.

According to the Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), humans are the only animals that possess weapons they were not born with. Therefore, people have no natural deterrent instinct commensurate with the weapons they possess, the renowned scholar wrote in "King Solomon's Ring."

Be it fangs, talons or even venom, the "weapons" bestowed on animals by nature come with instinctive deterrent, Lorenz said. They naturally know when not to use them.

Humans must create such deterrents on their own. "Deterrent by fear," where everybody loses, continued even after the Cold War as nuclear powers kept up their eyeball-to-eyeball posture.

President Barack Obama's announcement that the United States would re-examine its nuclear policy may be a bold decision to put an end to such futility. The United States will opt not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries nor develop new nuclear warheads.

One year since his speech in Prague in which he stated the responsibility of "the only country to have used nuclear weapons," the United States has undergone a big change.

Of course, difficulties lie ahead. But I see in Obama's faith a passion that was lacking in past U.S. presidents.

The only way to eradicate the ghastly fangs that humans grew during the 20th century is for humans themselves to allow them to atrophy and to disappear. The trend must not be stopped.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and died in January, left the following poignant tanka poem: "Black rain/ Don't ever fall again/ Blue skies/ Are for people to pray for happiness." The earnest wish not to allow the use of nuclear weapons for the third time can only be met by their abolition.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 8

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.