Sarah Mathew is an Assistant Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. POLITICS CONFLICT COOPERATION CULTURAL GROUP SELECTION CULTURE GROUP SELECTION MORALITY ULTRASOCIALITY WARFARE Holly Dunsworth Why Is the Human Vagina So Big? Jennifer Raff Why There Still Are Monkeys: Lessons Learned From Teaching Evolution In Kansas Peter Turchin War Before Civilization David Sloan Wilson Welcome to the Evolutionary Blogosphere! Peter Turchin Sticking My Neck Out The Paradox of Human Warfare Explained Human warfare is shocking and an evolutionary puzzle, via Getty Images. The most atrocious acts of violence humans commit have been in warfare. Through of human history we have left countless children orphaned and violently raped milli women. We have found untold means to torture enemy combatants deliberately in beyond what most living organisms may have experienced. We have displayed the s enemies as trophies in our homes, or worse, used them as cups to consume our be seems that few things we do are as morally depraved as our behavior in warfare. Yet, it is not the egregious violence and moral depravity that makes human warfare Deliberately torturing others may be a special human quality, but there is ample vio and pain endured by animals in the struggle to obtain resources, reproduce and av Sign up for our newsletters Enter your email address SUBSCRIBE What is truly shocking about human warfare is that large numbers of reproductively unrelated, and unfamiliar individuals die in combat for benefits that are widely shar closest living relative in the animal kingdom, to the highly cooperative eusocial insec animal cooperates in war in this manner. Chimps raid neighboring communities, but in the several decades of observing them in the attacking party has been killed. They only attack when they outnumber the op sufficiently so that the attackers are unscathed. And the chimps that gang up for a r each other well, as they hail from the same community. SOCIAL EVOLUTION FORUM TOPICS NEWS CONTRIBUTORS PUBLICATIONS PROJECTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR IN THIS BLOG SHARE THIS BLOG POPULAR BLOG POSTS
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Sarah Mathew is an Assistant Professor inthe School of Human Evolution and SocialChange at Arizona State University.
POLITICS CONFLICT COOPERATION
CULTURAL GROUP SELECTION CULTURE
GROUP SELECTION MORALITY ULTRASOCIALITY
WARFARE
Holly Dunsworth
Why Is the Human Vagina So Big?
Jennifer Raff
Why There Still Are Monkeys: Lessons Learned From
Teaching Evolution In Kansas
Peter Turchin
War Before Civilization
David Sloan Wilson
Welcome to the Evolutionary Blogosphere!
Peter Turchin
Sticking My Neck Out
The Paradox of Human Warfare Explained
Human warfare is shocking and an evolutionary puzzle, via Getty Images.
The most atrocious acts of violence humans commit have been in warfare. Through the course
of human history we have left countless children orphaned and violently raped millions of
women. We have found untold means to torture enemy combatants deliberately inflicting pain
beyond what most living organisms may have experienced. We have displayed the skulls of our
enemies as trophies in our homes, or worse, used them as cups to consume our beverages. It
seems that few things we do are as morally depraved as our behavior in warfare.
Yet, it is not the egregious violence and moral depravity that makes human warfare stand out.
Deliberately torturing others may be a special human quality, but there is ample violence, injury
and pain endured by animals in the struggle to obtain resources, reproduce and avoid death.
Sign up for our newsletters
Enter your email address SUBSCRIBE
What is truly shocking about human warfare is that large numbers of reproductively capable,
unrelated, and unfamiliar individuals die in combat for benefits that are widely shared. From our
closest living relative in the animal kingdom, to the highly cooperative eusocial insects—no
animal cooperates in war in this manner.
Chimps raid neighboring communities, but in the several decades of observing them, no chimp
in the attacking party has been killed. They only attack when they outnumber the opponent
sufficiently so that the attackers are unscathed. And the chimps that gang up for a raid know
each other well, as they hail from the same community.
S O C I A L E V O L U T I O N F O R U M T O P I C S N E W S C O N T R I B U T O R S P U B L I C A T I O N S P R O J E C T S