"whereas the money spent on armaments only stimulates hatred and fear and increases steadily the chance that the nations of Earth will wipe out each other and, perhaps, all humanity; the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is something that would surely have a uniting effect on us all. The mere thought of other civilizations advanced beyond our own, of a Galaxy full of such civilizations, can't help but emphasize the pettiness of our own quarrels and shame us into more serious attempts at cooperation. And if the failure of the search should cause us to suspect that we are, after all, the only civilization in the Galaxy, might that not increase the sense of the preciousness of our world and ourselves and make us more reluctant to risk it all in childish quarrels?"