Robert Wright wrote a book called Nonzero a few years back that goes into this in more depth. The idea is that civilization's advance is defined by finding way

Robert Wright wrote a book called Nonzero a few years back that goes into this in more depth. The idea is that civilization's advance is defined by finding ways to turn zero-sum games (e.g. we kill you and take your resources for ourselves) into non-zero-sum games (e.g. we trade with you). War, as Scott Adams says in this post, isn't all that efficient a way of advancing your aims, especially as a developed country.