You’ve probably heard that Einstein quote that goes something like, “World War Four will be fought with sticks and stones” because in World War Three, we will have nuked each other to an Armageddon.

Well, Einstein didn’t know about the digital age—something that would have a massive impact on any potential mass wars of the future.

I am somewhat a pacifist and would prefer to see no more war during my lifetime. However, if it were to happen, there’s a good chance it would be a “cyber” war, a term that has come to our attention in light of the recent WikiLeaks case. In addition to gathering in a common area and protesting the denial of service to WikiLeaks, people are making a political statement by hacking into financial companies’ websites, according to CNN.

Most are deeming this particular instance a cyber “attack” rather than a cyber “war” because it does not involve two sovereign nations.

But what’s to stop two sovereign nations from engaging in a cyber war?

Imagine the power some countries like Iran could have if they were able to hack in to all Americans’ computers somehow and steal or destroy or somehow technologically ruin our identities! How frightening. However, might this be better than an actual “war” where people physically die?

That’s a question I hope we never have to truly answer, but, sadly, it’s something that could happen a lot sooner than we would think.