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Timeline of Violence and Conflict

A layered map of how humans and pre-human life justify, organize, and scale harm, integrated with Infinitist principles.

What this maps:
How violence emerges, escalates, and abstracts across biological, social, political, and technological layers.

Core arc:
Survival violence → Tribal warfare → Conquest → Holy wars → Imperial expansion → Industrial warfare → Nuclear deterrence → Proxy wars → Information warfare

Notes:

• Dates are approximate, indicating emergence rather than dominance.
• Each layer shows increasing abstraction of harm from immediate physical acts to systemic and symbolic forms.
• This timeline is descriptive, not prescriptive.

Survival Violence – Biological Imperative

Emergence: ~3.8 billion years ago – present

Core Characteristics

• Violence as direct response to threat or competition for resources
• Predation, defense, and intra-species conflict
• Minimal moral or symbolic framework

Infinitist Lens

• Harm emerges from necessity and survival
• Yin/Yang: predator/prey, defense/aggression

Related Studies

• Evolutionary biology
• Ethology
• Neuroscience of aggression

Tribal Warfare – Group Defense and Offense

Emergence: ~300,000 – 10,000 BCE

Core Characteristics

• Violence organized within and between tribes
• Motivated by resource competition, territory, and status
• Social norms partially regulate behavior

Infinitist Lens

• Conflict mediated through social structure
• Yin/Yang: cooperation/hostility, insider/outsider

Key Figures & Studies

• Anthropology of warfare
• Archaeological evidence of prehistoric conflict

Conquest – Expansion and Domination

Emergence: ~5,000 BCE – present

Core Characteristics

• Violence used strategically for territorial or political gain
• Formalized armies and hierarchies
• Ideology often justifies expansion

Infinitist Lens

• Harm abstracted into strategy
• Yin/Yang: ruler/subject, offense/defense

Key Figures & Studies

• Sun Tzu — The Art of War
• Ancient empires (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome)
• Military history

Holy Wars – Sacred Justification

Emergence: ~1,200 BCE – present

Core Characteristics

• Violence justified through divine mandate
• Religious ideology legitimizes combat
• Often intertwined with political objectives

Infinitist Lens

• Conflict symbolically reinforced
• Yin/Yang: sacred/profane, spiritual/military

Key Figures & Studies

• Crusades, Jihad, Religious conflicts
• History of religion
• Political theology

Imperial Expansion – Systemic Violence

Emergence: ~1,500 BCE – 1900 CE

Core Characteristics

• Organized states project power globally
• Colonization, extraction, and subjugation
• Military and bureaucratic infrastructure enables large-scale harm

Infinitist Lens

• Violence structural and systemic
• Yin/Yang: center/periphery, conqueror/conquered

Key Figures & Studies

• European colonial empires
• Global military history
• Historical sociology

Industrial Warfare – Mechanized Destruction

Emergence: ~1760 – 1945 CE

Core Characteristics

• Mass production of weapons and mobilization of populations
• Warfare becomes industrialized and centralized
• Civilian and infrastructure targeting emerges

Infinitist Lens

• Harm abstracted through technology and scale
• Yin/Yang: efficiency/destruction, soldier/civilian

Key Figures & Studies

• Napoleonic wars, World War I & II
• Military-industrial complex studies
• History of technology

Nuclear Deterrence – Strategic Abstraction

Emergence: ~1945 – present

Core Characteristics

• Violence abstracted into potential rather than execution
• Deterrence relies on threat credibility, not action
• Ethical, psychological, and strategic dimensions dominate

Infinitist Lens

• Conflict exists as systemic possibility
• Yin/Yang: annihilation/prevention, fear/security

Key Figures & Studies

• Cold War history
• Game theory (Von Neumann, Nash)
• Nuclear strategy

Proxy Wars – Indirect Violence

Emergence: ~1945 – present

Core Characteristics

• Violence executed through intermediaries rather than direct engagement
• Geopolitical and ideological motivations dominate
• Local populations bear consequences

Infinitist Lens

• Harm delegated and networked
• Yin/Yang: direct/indirect, influence/impact

Key Figures & Studies

• Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Cold War conflicts
• International relations theory
• Conflict studies

Information Warfare – Cognitive and Systemic Conflict

Emergence: ~2000 – present

Core Characteristics

• Violence abstracted into data, narratives, and perception
• Cyber attacks, disinformation, and social manipulation
• Targets are cognition, trust, and societal cohesion

Infinitist Lens

• Conflict operates on consciousness and networks
• Yin/Yang: reality/illusion, perception/action

Key Figures & Studies

• Cybersecurity research
• Media and network theory
• Information operations studies

Infinitist Core Observation (Violence & Conflict)

Violence evolves in abstraction, not morality.
From direct survival to algorithmic influence, the scale, justification, and complexity of conflict increase. Moral evaluation is contingent, not structural.

Integrated Pattern

• Early violence: immediate, local, survival-focused
• Mid-layer violence: organized, strategic, justified symbolically
• Modern violence: systemic, abstracted, cognitive, and mediated

Return-to-Oneness Implication

• Awareness of abstraction layers restores conscious agency over harm
• Understanding structural and symbolic violence allows reflection and mitigation
• Infinitism frames conflict as an emergent phenomenon of layered consciousness and societal organization