Comments on: Is War a Product of Evolution, Or Just a Flaw of Man?

By: visapatri

visapatri — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 04:58:33 +0000

The inherent principel of the nature is - survival of the fittest.This has been the creed since the evolution of life.When the so called civilisation evolved,the fragmentation human race also evolved.The result of such fragmentation was evolution of wars for survival.
The development of civilisation resulted in evolution of RELIGIONS which resulted in deeper fragmentations in human society.The religions, which are to be means for uplifment of humans to a higher plain, have instead become a curse resulting in wars.
The wars will be part of every generation as long as human mind does not uplift itself to higher plain and realise the nature ,i.e God ,in its true sense .

By: Ken Kenigsberg

Ken Kenigsberg — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:07:12 +0000

According to Richard Dawkins, religion is an evolutionary survival advantage because it makes believers act cohesively, thereby increasing their success in warfare.

By: J. Brownowski

J. Brownowski — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:41:22 +0000

It goes something like this:
Early man is very, very hungry. See’s large animal with sharp horns. He knows he will die but hopes not. Hope works fifty percent of the time, so he ritualizes it. He discovers how rituals can manipulate others and religion is born. Utilizing this new found power he sends others out for food. Weapons escalate. War is the tool of acquisition. Are we flawed? It depends on who wins.

By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:12:57 +0000

Feelings rule, whether plant or animal, and territory is a basic feeling, perhaps arising out of the feeling of hunger. Warfare is the name given to social animals acting upon territorial feelings. It goes back well beyond chimps. Even brainless sea anemonies try to kill their neighbors. Humanity cannot escape it until their brains evolve the capacity to hold such feelings in abeyance. We seem to be making progess, albeit too slowly.

By: Sam I Am

Sam I Am — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:41:45 +0000

“Us vs. Them” Naked Ape Mentality

The human species evolved with ‘us’ vs ‘them’ social group competitiveness. Competition for territory and resources dictated that whichever group dominated, best survived, & was deemed superior. Whichever group out bred the surrounding groups and could best sustain warfare usually won out & whatever ‘gods’ they worshiped gained sway.

This is facilitated when each group thinks of themselves as being The People aka ‘the chosen ones’. The Christian teaching that humans can ONLY approach God through Jesus Christ is a manifestation of this. It’s not enough to believe in God — you have to believe in Christ as the Savior in a very special way in order to properly go to Heaven. And, if you’re a Baptist, believing in Christ in a special way grants you superiority over Lutherans, Catholics, etcetera AND vice versa.

It’s all about ‘usuns’ being the superior social culture (aka ‘chosen ones’) & the rest being “thoseuns” (inferior — thus worthy of domination). It’s all quite primitive [think of the song, “Onward Christian Soldiers” then remember the Crusades]. Not at all what Christ represents = Love & Wisdom.

By: brooks

brooks — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:25:44 +0000

“I wonder if we could find a better example of ivory tower nonsense.”

perhaps we could, if we knew just what you’re deriding here as “nonsense”. care to enlighten?

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:12:01 +0000

I wonder if we could find a better example of ivory tower nonsense.

By: Gordon5608

Gordon5608 — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:41:12 +0000

I believe it is all rooted in the socio-biological specialization which tends to produce groupings sufficiently alike to guarantee a decent gene pool.

These groupings - maybe 2000 people in human terms - then compete to get to the best breeding position and use the male as the way to progress their future.

“Nature” needs to have lots of slightly differing versions of each species so that no matter what catastrophe occurs some will be better suited to thrive (Darwin) To keep your gene pool pure you need to repel outsiders and compete for resources.

By: Erik

Erik — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:54:21 +0000

Better yet, TAE, maybe we can manage to unite mankind in opposition to some imaginary enemy. Maybe one who threatens to enslave us for eternity. Hey wait! We’ve got one! I Guess we have to give the Devil his due on this one. War and religion have always seemed like two complimentary instincts, one reinforcing the other (”fighting for God and country”). But who knows, waging the battle of good and evil on some fantastic battleground may be a useful diversion from the real thing. Better to duke it out with phantoms in your head than in actual combat. Someone could get hurt.

By: Simple Country Physicist

Simple Country Physicist — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:19:09 +0000

Moose Muffins. The team work originated in hunting medium to large animals. The problem is that war is not the same as basic human violence. The article incidentally reflects this. But it is rather amusing how academics tend to ignore those who are knowledgable of war when they make pronouncements about it. One has to wonder how they can get away with such behavior when in any other mode it would ruin their careers? Perhaps because soldiers are not really human and we can send them off to die with clear conscience? Somehow it is sad that such has to emerge in the same week as Armistice Day anniversary.

By: TAE

TAE — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:33:25 +0000

Wouldn’t it be great if we could unite all the men on the planet into one cooperative group via a war? Perhaps the only way we’ll ever by a truly unified global cooperative is if we discover an alien species and declare war on them…