If the HUMAN Race is Naturally so Peacefull...

[Werewolf]

...why are wars so darn common?

Why is our entertainment flooded with violence of all types?

Why do almost all successful computer games focus on war, combat and violence?

Why are many of our sports just proxies for combat?

WHY?

Maybe because mankind isn't really as naturally peaceful as we'd like to believe. Rather it is built by nature for combat, violence and mayhem of all sorts?

My hypothesis is that the capacity for violence inherent in us all is a survival trait without which we'd just be prey and never would have risen through the evolutionary chain to the level we have.

What say you?

 

[Honey Badger]

I say you're thinking too much. Don't over-analyse things. There's good and evil in the world. You can't have one without the other. Be grateful for what you have and rejoice in the season. The holidays have a weird effect on people.

 

[tntrex]

Who said we are naturally peaceful?

 

[SMS]

Peace is an artificial state...people who have successfully "lived in peace" usually did so at the expense of someone else who was cracking skulls on their behalf.

 

[mugsy]

Who said the human race is very peaceful?

For most the religious among us - concupiscence, the propensity toward sin, is a well understood phenomenon which along with free will leads us to need men to band together to protect the weak and helpless, and in the case of the United States, to also protect the freedom of our citizens by limiting the power and scope of government.
For the areligious one need only look around to see the capacity of men to do evil...but if you look more deeply you will also see the capacity for great good.

I think you are wrong to say we're built for combat, violence, and mayhem. We have many capacities and it is our choices in relation to natural law that make them bad or good. Some combat fights evil, some combat is the evil. But the same hands that can strangle can also by an act of will or faith become hands that comfort the sick or the lame or the elderly. Those choices are acted upon every day in a million different ways. Our job is to build a society that supports and promotes the acts of good and kindness while doing what we can to limit the bad. It will never be perfect, men aren't perfectible, but we can hold the line.

BTW - I think the obvious answer about games violence is that is does appeal to some especially young men who are naturally oriented toward action and physical activity (yes even virtual activity). But when you combine the ability to produce highly realistic immersive violence games and a weakening family and moral structure - you get what I think we are seeing right now -- disconnected, violence prone males who have become somewhat insensitive to violence at the same time that they have lost empathy (or maybe never learned) for fellow humans and have little to no moral training as a baseline for judging their own actions. This is a very bad combination.

 

[CAR-AR-M16]

Who said the human race is very peaceful?

For most the religious among us - concupiscence, the propensity toward sin, is a well understood phenomenon which along with free will leads us to need men to band together to protect the weak and helpless, and in the case of the United States, to also protect the freedom of our citizens by limiting the power and scope of government.
For the areligious one need only look around to see the capacity of men to do evil...but if you look more deeply you will also see the capacity for great good.

I think you are wrong to say we're built for combat, violence, and mayhem. We have many capacities and it is our choices in relation to natural law that make them bad or good. Some combat fights evil, some combat is the evil. But the same hands that can strangle can also by an act of will or faith become hands that comfort the sick or the lame or the elderly. Those choices are acted upon every day in a million different ways. Our job is to build a society that supports and promotes the acts of good and kindness while doing what we can to limit the bad. It will never be perfect, men aren't perfectible, but we can hold the line.

BTW - I think the obvious answer about games violence is that is does appeal to some especially young men who are naturally oriented toward action and physical activity (yes even virtual activity). But when you combine the ability to produce highly realistic immersive violence games and a weakening family and moral structure - you get what I think we are seeing right now -- disconnected, violence prone males who have become somewhat insensitive to violence at the same time that they have lost empathy (or maybe never learned) for fellow humans and have little to no moral training as a baseline for judging their own actions. This is a very bad combination.

Well said.

 

[been]

Who said we are naturally peaceful?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau#Philosophy

 

[JB Books]

We are animals with all the predatory nature of an animal.

 

[71buickfreak]

Humans can live in peace at times, but that is not how we are wired for long term. All you have to do is look at toddlers on a playground. They have fun and play and then all of a sudden, something will kick off a fight, whether it is a toy or an accidental bump. Humans are wired for violent reactions, just like dogs, cats, monkeys, etc. All animals have some sort of territorial instinct, that is what this boils down to. As society develops, we tend to lose a lot of our own personal territory in exchange for group territory. The thing that sets humans apart from the animals is that we have developed beyond instinct, using rational thought. That said, you can't always get away from the instinct part. Sometimes I think that the only reason we can manage to live in peace at all is the fear of death.

 

[n8thegr8]

We are animals with all the predatory nature of an animal.

I never noticed this until I took my Intelligent Robotics class, but looking at animals, generally you can tell if they're predators or prey by their eyes. Forward facing eyes are characteristic of predators because it allows depth perception, whereas side mounted eyes are beneficial to prey animals because it creates a much wider field of view. Not entirely relevant to the discussion, just interesting, lol