Previous research suggests our ability to cooperate and exhibit empathy — both thought to be critical to human success — relied in part on the large brains of our hominin ancestors, relative to body size; and that selection
against aggression within early human populations allowed us to thrive.
It is our technical progress that now brings any one spot on the globe
within a few hours» travel of every other spot, which makes it possible to send messages to all the earth at once and which makes no spot safe or secure
against aggression.