[dschobel]

That's just how humans roll.

Precisely. History is littered with examples of the imperialistic tendencies of man (if you want to see some grade-A imperialism, look into how the Aztecs built their empire, hint: it wasn't by having lots of babies).

[maxwell]

Appeal to history. Just because a lot of source code is littered with GOTOs doesn't mean that approach is "how hackers roll." Imperialism's just a phase; it's already generally considered harmful.

[dschobel]

The discussion at hand is about history of imperialism so 'appealing to history' shouldn't be that surprising.

Also, I'm curious, how are things in your post-imperialist future? Is everything lovely?

[maxwell]

It's not surprising, but it's still a fallacy. And civilization without imperialism will probably be about as "lovely" as code without GOTOs.