Total war (or just any collective conflict) is in some sense the consequence of choosing the wrong abstraction, not always innocently. E.g. "It is simply a fac

Total war (or just any collective conflict) is in some sense the consequence of choosing the wrong abstraction, not always innocently. E.g. "It is simply a fact that Group X is just B-like" (group X obviously disagrees, understanding itself to be C+L+M+N). But projecting B-ness coarsely onto the surface of X, this serves both the members throughout group X and the leaders at its center, who have other goals than understanding the truth of C+L+M+N. Sorry, that's a new analogy for framing how I see it, as someone working in collective intelligence. Might be a little rocky.