Spies are needed because humans engage in war. You can't eliminate war without eliminating or subjugating humankind's A) competitive nature and B) very basic, primitive instinct to engage in tribalism and defend ones own tribe against others.
I like what Sun Tzu says about it.
"Sun Tzu said: Raising a host of a hundred thousand men and marching them great distances entails heavy loss on the people and a drain on the resources of the State. The daily expenditure will amount to a thousand ounces of silver. There will be commotion at home and abroad, and men will drop down exhausted on the highways. As many as seven hundred thousand families will be impeded in their labor.
Hostile armies may face each other for years, striving for the victory which is decided in a single day. This being so, to remain in ignorance of the enemy's condition simply because one grudges the outlay of a hundred ounces of silver in honors and emoluments, is the height of inhumanity.
One who acts thus is no leader of men, no present help to his sovereign, no master of victory.
Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.
Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation.
Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men.
Not sure about the accuracy of this article, but it was a fun read.
Tangential: Early this year I read the book The Spy and the Traitor. It’s about a Soviet KGB man who worked secretly for the west for decades. I won’t spoil it, but one of the greatest stories I’ve read.
Then there is the tale of the Lucy spy ring discovering the impending German attack at Kursk.
Finally, the Bothans who sacrificed their lives to retrieve the plans for the Death Star.
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