13 Darkest Star Trek: The Original Series Moments

A war fought by computers sounds great--no one has to die. But in the Eminiar/Vendikar War, people who are labeled as virtual casualties are expected to report to disintegration stations and die in real life.

Both Eminiar and Vendikar agreed that this was a safer, cleaner way of fighting the war, and they even convince their citizens that dying in a disintegration chamber is the only way to ensure the war does not destroy their respective cultures.

Kirk argues that by making war sterile and pleasant, they have forgotten why war is so terrible in the first place. They are willing to keep their citizens brainwashed into believing it's better to kill themselves than let an actual war be fought. By doing so, they have made the war almost impossible to end.