...a process of selection has been at work in the world system
of societies, favoring innovative societies at the expense of those that
resisted change. ..this process has favored those societies that have been
most successful in accumulating useful information relevant to subsistence
activities (1991, p. 47).
When societies have come into conflict with one another over territory
and other vital resources, those that have been technologically more advanced
have usually prevailed (1991, p. 47).