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Essay:On the Origin of Human Conflict
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This essay is an original work by HeidelbergKid. It does not necessarily reflect the views expressed in RationalWiki's Mission Statement, but we welcome discussion of a broad range of ideas. Unless otherwise stated, this is original content, released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 or any later version. See RationalWiki:Copyrights. Feel free to make comments on the talk page, which will probably be far more interesting, and might reflect a broader range of RationalWiki editors' thoughts. |
This page was written in 2012 by the Heidelberg Kid (I am hiding my real name for privacy, you'll see my real name in the peer-reviewed journal when it gets through).
The history of humanity can be divided into three phases of violence.
- Antestilian ("before pike") ~ -8 000 000 to -1 000 000: This period lasts from the divergence of the human and chimpanzee evolutionary lineages[1] to the invention of the first pike[2], around one million years ago. Behavior amongst tribes would have probably resembled those of modern chimpanzees, which often faced much internal conflict. Territory ownership was mainly a matter of numbers, as weaponry was pretty much the same throughout tribes.
- Interim ~ -1 000 000 to -10 000: The Interim is a period of relative peace within and between tribes. No longer would the usage of more men mean victory, as a few pikemen could still inflict severe injury on men with just clubs and hand axes. The era of peace may have led to the three voyages out of Africa: the first by H. erectus, the second by H. heidelbergensis, and the last by H. sapiens. War was more costly now, so peaceful alternatives needed to be sought out.
- World War O: 40 000 to -30 000?: In The Third Chimpanzee, Jared Diamond argues that a massive war[3] was the reason for the extinction of the Neanderthals some 35 000 years ago, as humans expanded into Europe from western Asia. This is still during the "peaceful" interim, but the Cro-Magnons had some new weapons: stone-headed spears, atlatls, bows and arrows, et cetera. After the Neanderthals were all dead, the Interim continued on and again, there was much less fighting until the advent of agriculture, as described below. Of course, the evidence regarding World War O can also simply be not a war but simply competition, without active fighting. This is correct, and at this point, whether it was active fighting or just competition are both equally supported, making it a matter of little more than opinion. This isn't the main focus of the work, though. This section is included here because it is relevant.
- Postbellum ("after war") ~ -10 000 to +2 012: War in the modern sense arises in Sudan sometime from 12,000 to 14,000 years ago (we use 12,000 here because it results in -10 000, a nice round number). Before this, conflict more resembled hit-and-run raids or ambushes. This was also characteristic of post-agricultural societies, though new emphasis was put on capturing land as well and warfare became more organized. This coincided with the invention of agriculture, which had its first faint glimmers 12 000 years ago with the Natufians of the Fertile Crescent and the Levant and truly sprouted eleven thousand years ago. It also coincided with the beginnings of organized religion, as the first temple was constructed 11 000 years ago in modern-day Turkey. Go figure. Of course, war didn't magically appear in all places. The peaceful Interim lingered in some areas until around -2 000.
Criticisms[edit]
A lot of criticisms of my work revolve around the whole "World War O" explanation for the extinction of Homo neanderthalensis. Here is a refutation of them.
Problem: There is no evidence that there was ever such a war with Neanderthals. We never found Neanderthal bone with spear points in them.
Solution: First, there's the extreme unlikelihood that any particular bone will be fossilized, given the conditions required. Secondly, there's tons of evidence. Neanderthals began dying out as the Cro-Magnons arrived in Europe. We have found bones which indicate Neanderthals have been eaten by some sort of humanoid. A lot of new innovations in weaponry, e.g. stone spearheads, throwing weapons, archery, etc., have appeared in Europe as the Neanderthals were dying out. The claim that humans and Neanderthals interbred does not meet well with the story that mitochondria tell. If there was human-Neanderthal interbreeding, then we would expect to find mtDNA which does not come from mtEve in Europe, as the mtEve of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis predates that of just H. sapiens, but the mitochondria indicate modern European haplogroups are not related to Neanderthal haplogroup(s).
Follow-up Problem: Couldn't that just have been the two species competing, and not necessarily a war?
Follow-up Solution: Yes, it could have been. Both scenarios are plausible, and it may be a combination of the two. We're getting into a land of speculation here. Both hypotheses are equally supported by the evidence, so it could be either one. We don't have time machines, so expecting any certainty is unreasonable.
Problem: You just don't like that we don't agree with you. We know better.
Solution: Arguments from authority, popularity, and assertion all in one! Both our hypotheses are equally supported, so from there on, it's a matter of opinion. Just because you're the majority doesn't mean you're right.
Problem: It only goes to 2012! ZOMG!
Solution: For all I know, humanity will blow itself up or somehow make world peace and end all wars before 2013. I'm not going to speculate on the future. It used to be only to 2011, until the new year came.
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ The earliest found fossil since the divergence was the bipedaloid Sahelanthropus tchadensis, which lived around -7 000 000 to -6 000 000. The eight million years here could be far too early.
- ↑ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0823_050823_spears_war.html Although it uses the word "spear", it is more likely to mean "pike", i.e. long pointed wooden rod, as spears, i.e. having stone heads, were invented c. -40 000. This can be inferred in turn by a combination of two sources. Roger Bridgman, in conjunction with the Smithsonian, placed the invention of the atlatl (spear thrower) around -35,000 in his book, "1000 Inventions and Discoveries". http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1080078/index.htm states spears were invented 40 to 20 thousand years ago. The only way these two make sense is if spears were invented forty thousand years ago.
- ↑ To be fair, Diamond does not refer to the war as "World War 0". This is simply a name given because the article on Neanderthals referred to it as a "zeroth world war" previously, and because it rolls of the tongue better. This would be more accurately described as a series of conflicts, but "war" is quicker to say, and now we're descending into linguistic arguments, not scientific ones.