If the Luftwaffe’s first bombing of London were indeed an accident, it would be a perfect symbol of strategic innovation, in that it may not have been meant quite as it was understood by its victims. However, the misunderstanding rarely matters because it leads to an escalation anyway. Each side, demonizing the other, interprets the other’s actions in a sinister or threatening light and adopts what countermeasures it can. War and economic
competition are especially likely to generate these spirals, but they occur in personal interactions as well. Every innovation feels threatening and leads to countermeasures. (A bit of paranoia in either player can accelerate the spiral.)