In 1932, Albert Einstein raised the question in a letter to Sigmund Freud of how much the human inclination towards destruction can be curbed from a psychoanalytic perspective. In his response, Freud contrasted the life drive (Eros) with the death drive, which is oriented towards destruction, and concluded that the overall development of culture, along with the fear of the destructive power of modern weapons, would gradually bring military conflicts to an end. In "Thoughts on War and Death," published in 1915 in the midst of World War I, Freud had already argued similarly and noted a conflict articulated in war between the drives of life and culture.