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It has little to do with epistemology. The main cause for human conflicts is the fact that we are playing zero-sum games. Humans are constantly fighting/jockeying for status, acquiring resources for themselves, and simply getting ahead of the others.

This is in the genome unfortunately.

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Not all of the important games we play are zero-sum, fortunately.

Political power does seem to be one, and it's a pretty pervasive and contagious one.

I think political power varies widely from negative-sum to positive-sum, depending on the circumstances.

Exactly. It is nuch more nuanced and dynamical.

Depends on resources. When resources are plentiful, we happily work together to maximise them. But when you're starving, you'll kill your siblings and eat them.

With inequality rising, expect more anti-social behaviour.

> With inequality rising, expect more anti-social behaviour.

You mean with poverty rising, right ?

Inequality will by itself fuel resentment even if the number of people in absolute poverty is low. And resentment causes people to disengage from the political process or to be more extreme in their politics.

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