[extropy-chat] What is "war" (was: My Dilemma)

[Keith Henson]

At 12:35 AM 7/10/2006 -0700, J. Andrew Rogers wrote:

snip

>What, precisely, makes war "war"?

snip

You might be interested in my take on it (if you have not already read it)

Evolutionary Psychology, Memes and the Origin of War

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/4/17/194059/296

I think you could sort out wars, riots, and related that are caused by 
activating the evolved mechanism that induced our remote ancestors to make 
war on neighboring bands (for good reason).

You can make a good case that war is not particularly adaptive for culture 
above hunter gatherers, see the discussion about corn farmers in the 
American Southwest.

Keith Henson