One knows the feeling of despair at the news that innocent people are being killed and old enmity rekindled. The world in which we live is not at peace. Tensions and unresolved disputes are dominant features of our age. Despite disarmament conferences and other verbal endeavours to promote peace, the armaments race continues. Military budgets merely mount up, and have today reached a level of close to 65 billion dollars annually.
Nuclear armaments are the cause of deepest concern.
With these weapons the killing power of the super powers appears to have reached its maximum potential - the extermination of the human race. There are, in short, ample grounds for pessimism in our time. And it is, in fact, from the ranks of people imbued precisely with such ideas that the Norwegian Nobel Committee has this year made its choice. There are people who are not satisfied merely to draw attention to alarming trends, but who also devote their energy and their ability to turning the tide. Pessimism and anxiety for the future have failed to unnerve a few hardy souls, who are endeavouring to convey the message that the fate of mankind has by no means been finally sealed, and that the nuclear holocaust is not the only possible outcome of the conflicts and disputes we face.