[ng12]

Counterpoint: tribalism is what makes us do great things. The US went to space because we wanted to beat Russia. Spain re-discovered America because they wanted to beat the Portuguese. Rome built an empire because they wanted Romans to be wealthier, stronger, more civilized than everyone else.

I like to think of ancient China as the counter-example. China built a huge, self-sufficient empire. It had almost everything it needed and a stable trade network for the few things it didn't. It was well-protected by natural borders and had a large army for keeping the peace. It developed enough technology to lend it's people a relatively good standard of living. The end result was that China stagnated and lost the ~2,000 year head start they had over Europeans. China's goal was to provide stability, and it did that very well, at the cost of progress.

[wernercd]

I don't disagree... "us vs them" has lead to some great races (and Super Bowls).

The problem is the extreme version that ends in Nuclear War.

We can survive quite a few races - race to the stars. Race to solar. Race to the Super Bowl.

We can only lose the Nuclear Arms race once.

And North Korea ai'nt lookin pretty.