[Yossarian:] "We won't lose. We've got more men, more money, and more material. There are ten million men in uniform who could replace me. Some people are getting killed and a lot more are making money and having fun. Let somebody else get killed."
[Major Major:] "But suppose everybody on our side felt that way?"
[Yossarian:] "Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way. Wouldn’t I?"
-- Catch-22
“In fact, four men such as they were - four men devoted to one another, from their purses to their lives; four men always supporting one another, never yielding, executing singly or together the resolutions formed in common; four arms threatening the four cardinal points, or turning toward a single point - must inevitably, either subterraneously, in open day, by mining, in the trench, by cunning, or by force, open themselves a way toward the object they wished to attain, however well it might be defended, or however distant it may seem. The only thing that astonished D'Artagnan was that his friends had never thought of this.”
-- The Three Musketeers
I suggest that the key words in these contrasting views of cooperation are “ten million” and “four.” One person in ten million deserting won’t change the course of a war, but if one swordsman in a group of four consistently puts his own safety ahead of the success of the group, the group is more likely to lose a fight, with severe consequences for everyone in the group.
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