Definitions HQ

Reciprocity (n.) seems ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only fair, good for good and evil for evil, and it is exactly what every community on the planet has always done, with familiar results.

Reciprocity (n.) wins ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠precisely because each rival denies it: all chase difference with the same strategies at the same moment, and the denied reciprocity haunts them.

Reciprocity (n.) gone ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠bad feeds on itself and needs no external cause to continue; once the outside cause fades, the first scapegoat ends the crisis.

Reciprocity (n.) turned ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠evil gets worse by its own logic: half of the combatants think justice is done because they are avenged, and the other half strike back to avenge themselves.

Reciprocity (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠only ever perfect at the extremes — total violence or total nonviolence — and humanity has managed only the first.

Reciprocity (n.) terrified ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠archaic peoples for good reason: whenever it broke through the screen of custom, it became runaway competition and then mutual violence.