With North Korea, the issue in not whether it gives up its nuclear weapons. The issue is that conditions on the ground make nuclear weapons necessary.

If North Korea destroys all of its nuclear capacity, the world has achieved nothing but a pause in the relentless march to the demise of civilization.

North Korea knows how to build nuclear weapons and nothing can change that. Any country in the world with money and dedication can obtain nuclear weapons and that cannot be changed, either.

Current strategies for peace that rely on deals and facts are useless because they ignore human emotions. Beliefs, hopes and wishes are fundamental in determining human relationships. One example among thousands of others — cynicism destroys hope and, without hope, no resolution of conflict is possible.

Well beyond discussion of eliminating nuclear weapons, consideration of what the sides believe about each other is vital. Ending the conflicts that emerge from those discussions could be solved if other emotions didn’t interfere. Those emotions include fear, anger, greed, envy, suspicion and so many more. Perhaps most damaging is myth-making, i.e. the ability to make up facts and rationalizations. We defend our myths against non-believers (aka enemies) at any cost.

It appears that “human nature” is the villain. Are we stuck with it?

I believe, based on recent research on brain development, that human nature can evolve. Survival as a species depends upon continued evolution — this time through our own efforts.

Hubert Kauffman, Oxford