[extropy-chat] War Is Easy To Explain - Peace is Not

[BillK]

On 3/15/07, Keith Henson wrote:
<snip>
> Though the data would be hard to obtain, I would bet decent odds that the
> EP conditions that are the ultimate cause of war prevailed.
>


Where the evidence is available -
i.e. a population given the choice of starvation / poverty versus
invade the neighbours, then I am happy to agree that this would likely
be the main cause of that war.
(Assuming the population is allowed to choose - most dictators or
rulers enforce their own will on a cowed population by executions,
secret police, etc.)

I really don't see the need to make up excuses to force *every* war
into the EP scenario. Dictators, or, in fact, most rulers before the
modern age, would not even consider the opinion of their subjects. The
poor, uneducated population was regarded as 'cannon fodder' who would
do as they were told - or else. Even as late as the 1914-18 war, the
generals marched the lower classes into the machine guns.

EP is useful at times, but not compulsory.

BillK