Warfare is just such a situation, and warlords are disproportionately represented in the human gene pool. The best representation of ancestral environment warfare I’ve seen is a real time strategy adaptation of Risk, where players receive resources proportional to their territory, and can only gain territory by taking it from others by force. I’ve played quite a few iterations of this, and the player who appears strongest almost never wins in the end; instead, the second-most powerful player wins.
Consider three warlords A, B, and C, starting out at peace, with A and B the same strength, and C significantly stronger. If A and B go to war with eachother, then C will conquer them both, so they won’t do that. If B and C go to war with eachother, then A must also go to war with C, or else he’ll find himself facing C plus the conquered remnants of A, with no possible allies, and conversely, if A goes to war with C then B must also go to war with C. In other words, if all players act rationally, then the only player who can’t win is the one who starts with the most resources.
Warfare is just such a situation, and warlords are disproportionately represented in the human gene pool. The best representation of ancestral environment warfare I’ve seen is a real time strategy adaptation of Risk, where players receive resources proportional to their territory, and can only gain territory by taking it from others by force. I’ve played quite a few iterations of this, and the player who appears strongest almost never wins in the end; instead, the second-most powerful player wins.
Consider three warlords A, B, and C, starting out at peace, with A and B the same strength, and C significantly stronger. If A and B go to war with eachother, then C will conquer them both, so they won’t do that. If B and C go to war with eachother, then A must also go to war with C, or else he’ll find himself facing C plus the conquered remnants of A, with no possible allies, and conversely, if A goes to war with C then B must also go to war with C. In other words, if all players act rationally, then the only player who can’t win is the one who starts with the most resources.