viii Prefaceis, disease-experienced, populations had a lethal advantage over iso
lated communities whenever some new contact exposed the inexperi
enced population to unfamiliar infections. A well-equipped and orga
nized armed force, making contact with a society not equally well
organized for war, acts in much the same way as the germs of a
disease-experienced society do. The weaker community, in such an
encounter, may suffer heavy loss of life in combat. More often it
suffers its principal losses from exposure to economic and epidemio
logical invasions that are made possible by the military superiority of
the stronger people. But whatever the exact combination of factors, a
society unable to protect itself by force from foreign molestation loses
its autonomy and may lose its corporate identity as well.
A profound ambivalence inheres in warfare and organized human
violence. On the one hand, sociality achieves its highest expression in
acts of heroism, self-sacrifice, and prowess. The bonds of solidarity
among warriors are fierce and strong. Indeed, human propensities find
fullest expression in having an enemy to hate, fear, and destroy and
fellow-fighters with whom to share the risks and triumphs of violent
action. Our remote hunting ancestors banded together to lead such a
life, though their foes were animals more often than other men. But
old psychic aptitudes remain near the surface of our consciousness
still, and fit men for war in far-reaching ways.
On the other hand, organized and deliberate destruction of life and
property is profoundly repugnant to contemporary consciousness, es
pecially in view of the quantum jump in human capacity to kill im
personally and at a distance that has occurred since 1945. The
technology of modern war, indeed, excludes almost all the elements of
muscular heroism and simple brute ferocity that once found expres
sion in hand-to-hand combat. The industrialization of war, scarcely
more than a century old, has erased the old realities of soldiering
without altering ancient, inherited psychic aptitudes for the collective
exercise of force. This constitutes a dangerous instability. How armed
forces, weapons technology, and human society at large can continue
to coexist is, indeed, a capital question of our age.
Examining the pursuit of power in former times, and analyzing
changes in older balances between technology, armed force, and soci
ety will not solve contemporary dilemmas. It may, nonetheless, pro
vide perspective and, as is the wont of historical awareness, make
simple solutions and radical despair both seem less compelling. Mud
dling through in the face of imminent disaster was the fate of all past
generations. Perhaps we will do the same, and others after us. More