[pythia__]

On the other hand, if a lot of countries had apocalyptic weapons (a phase that naturally precedes such weapons becoming available to individuals), it could all but eliminate war. Countries behave surprisingly like rational agents in international relations. This period would be the window of opportunity for one lucky winner to bootstrap an AGI.

[merpnderp]

The US and USSR were moments away from war several times. As Pakistan and India show, being nuclear armed does tend to end conventional wars. But as more countries become nuclear armed, the higher the chances one of them will actually use them.

[digi_owl]

Supposedly the Cuban Crisis was averted by the leadership deviating from the (supposedly rational) RAND script.

[merpnderp]

When Saudi Arabia and Iran are both nuclear armed, how long before one of them strikes first, even if it is at or through a proxy?

The Iraq Iran war was filled with incalculable human tragedy and horror, of which both sides were perfectly willing to accept. Both the people who chained children together and forced them to charge machine gun nests and the people who mowed down children chained together from their machine gun nests.