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Re:Is there a war instinct? by andrewflnr on Monday May 04, 2015 @01:05AM (#9484409)
War is a completely predictable consequence of (a) our intelligence, which recognizes (b) the existence of scarce resources and (c) the fact that violence is sometimes an effective strategy for obtaining them. Organizing into groups to do so is just matter of thinking about tactics for a second, especially since we're already pretty group-oriented. There's no reason that war shouldn't be constantly, independently re-invented.
Re:Is there a war instinct? by dmichulke on Monday May 04, 2015 @04:33AM (#9484987)
To be fair, there are also various counterarguments that a rational being should take into account before going to war:

- The likelihood of being killed (IMO big these days, even as a non-combatant)

- the likelihood of suffering from indirect negative consequences via redirection of economic output (IMO high)

- the likelihood of warriors benefiting from the seized resources in a significant way (IMO small, unless you're also part of the ruling class)

So, yes, I agree with your conclusion but there are additional premises at work.