By S Ramadorai
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of… every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilisation…every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there— on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”—Carl Sagan, Pale Blue DotSagan’s haunting reflection reminds us how small we are in the grand scale of the cosmos, and how utterly futile our conflicts seem when set against the infinite backdrop of the universe. If we are to survive, let alone thrive, on this “pale blue dot,” peace is not just a moral ideal—it is our only bet.
Across the world today, we continue to witness the unrest and uncertainty that wars and conflicts inevitably bring. While motives may vary and strategies may evolve, the true cost of violence often reveals itself in the scars that linger far beyond the battlefield. History, however, offers us powerful alternatives.
Over two millennia ago, Emperor Ashoka stood on the blood-soaked plains of Kalinga, confronting the brutal cost of conquest. The devastation spurred a profound transformation. Turning to the teachings of the Buddha, Ashoka chose a path of peace, moral responsibility, and public welfare—ushering in one of the most enlightened periods of governance in ancient history. His story is timeless underscoring the eternal truth that peace is the true foundation of civilisation.
The 20th century echoed that ancient wisdom. After World War II culminating in the atomic horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—Japan renounced aggression and embraced a pacifist constitution. That decision did not stifle its growth; instead, it unleashed an era of innovation and prosperity for Japan. In 1955, scientists Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell echoed this sentiment in their landmark manifesto for nuclear disarmament, urging world leaders to “remember your humanity and forget the rest.”
Institutions like the United Nations were designed to mediate conflicts and build a shared future. In parallel, globalisation deepened our interdependence. Ed Conway’s “Material World” brings this vividly to life, outlining how six essential materials—sand, salt, iron, copper, oil, and lithium—form the backbone of our modern existence. The supply chains for these resources weave across continents, highlighting a critical truth: no nation can exist as an island. Our survival and prosperity hinge on cooperation.
And nowhere is the positive impact of globalisation more visible than in the rise of India’s IT industry. Firms like TCS leveraged the structural shifts in the global economy, guided by frameworks like CAGE that helped mitigate Cultural, Administrative, Geographic, and Economic disparities. Indian firms embraced cultural fluency, administrative agility, and economic efficiency to become trusted global partners—turning distance and differing time zones into strengths. This global collaboration was not just business; it was an act of building bridges through code and customer trust.
Yet despite all that connects us, the world finds itself trapped in new spirals of violence as nations vie for supremacy. The ongoing war in Ukraine, the tragedy in Gaza, simmering tensions between India and Pakistan, the persistent threat of terrorism, the weaponisation of trade, and the rise of digital disinformation have fractured our shared global consciousness. These conflicts—military, economic, ideological — drain resources, deepen mistrust, and push humanity further from the bridges we so painstakingly built.
This is why as global citizens, we must look for avenues to demonstrate leadership that elevates rather than annihilates. The United States and the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, battled for influence not with weapons but with chess boards and spacecrafts. Bobby Fischer’s victory over Boris Spassky was seen not merely as a personal triumph, but as a symbolic victory for the West. Similarly, the space race, marked by Sputnik 1’s launch and Apollo 11 moon landing, channeled geopolitical rivalry into achievements that advanced all humankind. Supremacy through intellect, innovation, and imagination is a far superior vision for the future, and the only path that can save humanity from the devastation of war.
In our own region, sports, science, and culture offer rich platforms for peaceful assertion. We have experienced it through cricket and sports diplomacy, international scientific collaborations, global music and film festivals — all these demonstrate how influence can be established through shared excellence rather than dominance. Amid these realities stands Mahatma Gandhi, whose principles of non-violence, truth, and civil disobedience command universal reverence. His life proved that peace rooted in justice and moral authority creates more enduring legacies than victory rooted in fear.
As a pacifist, I believe our path forward must be one of elevation, not escalation. The future belongs not to conquerors, but to collaborators, because today our greatest threats are not geopolitical — they are planetary. Climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, and resource scarcity do not recognise borders or ideologies. They demand collective action, shared responsibility, and global unity. In an age when a rising sea or a melting glacier can impact millions across continents, cooperation is not a choice—it is a necessity.
When Voyager 1 and 2 drifted into the vastness of interstellar space, they carried with them golden records — tender whispers from Earth — sounds of rain, laughter, heartbeat, greetings in dozens of languages, music from several nations from Hindustani classical to Bach, a message from a child “Hello from the children of planet Earth.” They carried not our fears, but our hopes and the essence of what makes us human—our wonder, our art, our longing to connect. In those fragile records, we offered the universe our gentlest truths. If we could choose to send only peace into the stars, then surely, we can choose to live by the same tenderness here on Earth.
Let us reimagine supremacy through ideas, innovation, skills, problem-solving, and compassion. Let us heed Sagan’s voice, echoing across the cosmos, reminding us of the singular home we all share. Let us choose peace, not as a retreat, but as our boldest step forward.
(The writer is a former CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services)