Group numbers can substitute for individual armament in warfare
Evidence
Army ants overwhelm their prey with strength in numbers. Soldiers have big heads with strong jaws, but they still need to be mobile since they march along with columns of workers on raids. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 969
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Concentrated fire makes quantity of soldiers beat individual weapon quality — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 236; Weapon costs follow the same handicap economics in nations as in individuals — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 924
Related
- Concentrated fire makes quantity of soldiers beat individual weapon quality (similarity 0.84)
- Firearms made troop numbers count quadratically rather than linearly in battle (similarity 0.82)
- Human armies and social insects solved the same weapon trade-off by role specialization (similarity 0.80)
- Military size honestly signals a state’s fighting strength just as animal weapons do (similarity 0.79)
- Weapon expense is what keeps signals of fighting ability honest (similarity 0.79)
- Cheap weapons let untrained commoners overcome heavily armored elites (similarity 0.78)
- Weapons work primarily as deterrents that prevent fights rather than win them (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Weapon costs follow the same handicap economics in nations as in individuals
#corroborates(0.55) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 924