The Trump administration ordered the United States military to attack Iran on February 27th. On February 28th, Operation Epic Fury and another war with Iran began. Goals for the war have included orchestrating regime change and preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Leaders have been killed and infrastructure has been destroyed, but the IRGC remains in power and probably continues to hold enough uranium to make an atomic weapon. Now the USA and Iran are locked in a stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz and a way to end the war.
Welcome to your life is the first line of the Tears for Fears song Everybody wants to rule the world. Apparently the band considered the lyrics “everybody wants to go to war” but eventually decided against that line (Ghosh, 2019). Both options seem apt, but the desire “to rule the world” is more fundamental.
Everybody wants to rule the world (1985) was popular during the Cold War. Now the USA and Iran are locked in yet another war over nuclear proliferation. Should this surprise us?
Cuckoos & King David:
A namesake of the word cuckolding, cuckoos have earned a notorious reputation as cheaters for sneak-laying their eggs (offspring) into another bird’s nest (so they don’t have to raise their descendants). As “a man after God’s own heart”, King David of Ancient Israel is said to have spied on a soldier’s wife before summoning her for an affair and impregnating her. After failed attempts to cover up his cuckolding, David ordered his commander to place the soldier (Uriah) on the front lines and withdrawal support.
Uriah was killed in battle. David waited for his pregnant lover to finish mourning her husband’s death then moved her into his palace. King David not only cuckolded Uriah. He had him killed. King David became the other man (i.e. adulterer, paramour, home-wrecker)…
How to steal a meal:
Many species can be seen fighting over food, and some use cheap tricks to steal a meal. Forked-tailed drongos use false alarm calls to nab the meals of fleeing meerkats (Reese, 2014). Cleaner fish typically only remove parasites from larger fish but sometimes take a real bite out of the fish they are supposed to be in a mutually beneficial relationship with (Yong, 2010). A blue butterfly species that feeds ants and mimics the smell of an ant larva sometimes compel ants to carry it back their nest where it can feed on ant larvae (Ohlson, 2019).
Can you remember a time when you escaped a restaurant or store without paying? No? If you have never fought over your favorite food, try to think of a time when you helped yourself to someone else’s meal. Still nothing? If you’ve never fought for food, (1) you’re either privileged or a saint and (2) you should know that humans are capable of much worse (Kabalek, 2023).
There’s always a bigger fi̶s̶h̶ beetle:
Animals have lots of reproductive strategies. One of them is to have a bigger weapon than the next guy. Some male dung beetles have large horns that they use to guard the entrance of tunnels where female dung beetles reside (Emlen, 1997).
Likewise, nations use nuclear weapons to defend their territory. The United States is the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in war (Hiroshima & Nagasaki), but even other nations have demonstrated their ability to use these weapons against their adversaries (Kimball, 2025). Like the dung beetle’s large horns, that’s a big warning signal that says, “Don’t mess with me bro.”
Nuclear proliferation is a big, unsolved problem because nations don’t want to be caught as a meal of a bigger fish. Dawkins and Krebs (1979) list four possible outcomes for arms races between and within species: (1) extinction of one or both species, (2) optimum outcome for one side, (3) mutual local optimum for both sides, or (4) a continuous arms race cycle. Right now it appears the world is stuck in number four: a continuous arms race cycle (i.e. nuclear proliferation). What, if anything, might break this cycle? All suggestions are welcomed.
The Trump administration is receiving a lot of criticism over the war with Iran, but I’m hearing few suggestions from those critics on what to do now. I can understand criticizing the administration for initiating the conflict without a better-developed strategic plan. But where do we go from here? If you’re the POTUS, what’s your next move?
It seems everybody wants to go to war, rule the world, or at the very least, reproduce. But no one wants to take responsibility for the resulting intractable conflicts. Welcome to life in the jungle.
Sources:
2 Samuel 11 (NKJV). (n.d.). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%2011&version=NKJV
Dawkins, R., & Krebs, J. R. (1979). Arms races between and within species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 205(1161), 489–511. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1979.0081
Emlen, D. J. (1997). Alternative Reproductive Tactics and Male-Dimorphism in the Horned Beetle Onthophagus acuminatus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 41(5), 335–341. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4601395
Ghosh, R. (2019, April 8). Everybody Wants to Rule the World — Tears for Fears’ 1985 hit was the subject of a radical re-reading. Financial Times. Retrieved April 14, 2026, from https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/everybody-wants-to-rule-the-world.html
Kabalek K (2023) “Jungle law reigned among the prisoners”: the meaning of cannibalism in the testimonies of Nazi concentration camps’ survivors. In: Dziuban Z, van der Laarse R (Eds) Accessing Campscapes: Critical Approaches and Inclusive Strategies for European Conflicted Pasts. Heritage, Memory and Conflict 3: 71-74. https://doi.org/10.3897/hmc.3.69956
Kimball, D. (2025, October). The nuclear testing tally | Arms Control Association. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/nuclear-testing-tally
Ohlson, K. (2019, January 3). Meet the animals that get ahead by cheating. Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/how-animals-take-advantage-of-mutualism-3081
Reese, A. (2014, May 1). African Bird uses fake warnings to steal food from neighbors. Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/african-bird-uses-fake-warnings-to-steal-food-from-neighbors-11258
Yong, E. (2010, January 8). Cleaner fish punish cheats who offend their customers. Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/cleaner-fish-punish-cheats-who-offend-their-customers-8938
Deliberating Truth 