I don't know war, but IIUC the game-theoretical response favored by biology is tit-for-tat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat https://en.wikipedia.org/w

I don't know war, but IIUC the game-theoretical response favored by biology is tit-for-tat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat So I'd expect militaries to asymptotically end up with something similar: we prefer cooperation, but will retaliate individual incidents. ... unless there's a political agenda for war, in which case all reason goes on vacation.