The Future of War
Excerpt from “Why Knot?” Buy the book at Amazon
In the past, war had evolutionary benefits, spreading both genes and ideas. But thanks to advances in transportation and communications, ideas and genes now spread and mix globally without war.
War forced people to migrate either as attackers or victims. Without war, people might have stayed put from one generation to the next, with little contact even between neighboring villages. War led to inter-breeding as opposed to in-breeding, reducing susceptibility to illness and genetic defects due to commonality of genes. And, without the frantic competition of populations at war, there would have been less incentive for technological development. In other words, war resulted in benefits for mankind, like the benefits of cross-pollination for plants.
Mankind evolved when war was necessary and although war no longer benefits human development, it could be many years before our impulse for it atrophies. Meanwhile, wars may become less frequent, less intense, and less costly, as the urge to war no longer has a basis in evolutionary necessity.
