What should the Uyghurs do to survive? How about the Kurds? Throughout history there have been a lot more losers than winners in the group survival lottery.For the last few weeks I’ve been asking people and thinking about what is the best strategy for defeated, or soon to be defeated, groups to follow to survive in the long run? The answer is that it is very contingent on factors like technology, timing and the actions of the conquerors. The available choices that we discovered are:

• Fight
• Flee
• Hide
• Wait
• Sulk
• Assimilate

If you fight too long you almost always lose and if you assimilate you’re gone. A good strategic application of the other four options has helped the Jews and the Irish survive and thrive. The problem is to figure out what the “good strategic application” is for the Uyghurs and the Kurds and many others.

A wild fire photo from California in 2015 taken with my iPhone.