>Why do you believe such a thing exists in the U.S.? Because it exists for every civilization and essentially every system. The U.S. is not inherently exceptio

>Why do you believe such a thing exists in the U.S.? Because it exists for every civilization and essentially every system. The U.S. is not inherently exceptional in this regard. And, yes, MAD is plausible and also a strong deterrent. But a central crux of the theory is that the system is inhabited by rational agents. Humans can even be modeled as rational agents most of the time, but I don't believe they adhere to this model all of the time. Behavioral psychology seems to bear this out.