this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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Like 99% of the recorded ones are going to be one empire or feudal lord fighting another. History was just like that until the last couple hundreds of years.
Since then, there's been a few much more clear-cut cases, like WWII or Ukraine, but those are unusual. There's still been a lot of asshole-on-asshole fights like WWI, Russia Empire vs. Japan, Iran vs. Iraq, Napoleon vs. everyone...
Obviously we talk a lot about the just ones, because they legitimately teach us things, and also simply because it makes for a better story.
Edit: The basic thing you said about arms races is totally valid, but the struggle between different ideas and own own better and worse natures is itself kind of a perpetual cycle, and I thought I should point it out.
You're perfectly right, of course, but I'd be wary of projecting the assholery of the elites onto the bulk of the people actually fighting that war, and particularly on the peasants that bore the cost of plundering armies taking their supplies and occasionally daughters or wives.
Either way, the topic of defending againt malware or AI is closer to the type of small-scale raiding warfare that passes beneath the notice of the recording elite (or predated record-keeping entirely). Accordingly, these will not have made it into the records, but they're probably a better analogy.