Is War Inevitable?

David Morris fqmorris at gmail.com
Fri Jun 15 08:51:02 CDT 2012


http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jun/07-is-war-inevitable-by-e-o-wilson

Our bloody nature, it can now be argued in the context of modern
biology, is ingrained because group-versus-group competition was a
principal driving force that made us what we are. In prehistory, group
selection (that is, the competition between tribes instead of between
individuals) lifted the hominids that became territorial carnivores to
heights of solidarity, to genius, to enterprise—and to fear. Each
tribe knew with justification that if it was not armed and ready, its
very existence was imperiled. Throughout history, the escalation of a
large part of technology has had combat as its central purpose. Today
the calendars of nations are punctuated by holidays to celebrate wars
won and to perform memorial services for those who died waging them.
Public support is best fired up by appeal to the emotions of deadly
combat, over which the amygdala—a center for primary emotion in the
brain—is grandmaster. We find ourselves in the “battle” to stem an oil
spill, the “fight” to tame inflation, the “war” against cancer.
Wherever there is an enemy, animate or inanimate, there must be a
victory. You must prevail at the front, no matter how high the cost at
home.

Any excuse for a real war will do, so long as it is seen as necessary
to protect the tribe. The remembrance of past horrors has no effect.



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