a little coffee

How will the world end? In millions of years the sun will gobble the earth, or an asteroid collision in 50 years, or will we blow ourselves up in a mere…ten? Is it inevitable that people will destroy one another? Are humans innately violent?

I have mixed feelings about this. In my darker moods, I’m convinced we’re nothing more than squishy robots at the mercy of our firing neurons creating foul tempers and a propensity for punching.

I read this article on Discover’s website that explored this issue. It described, among other things, a group of notoriously violent primates who, once the particularly aggressive members of the group died, the whole group, including newly born males, where much more peaceful. Also, primates who live in an environment where their basic needs (food and sex) were routinely met without aggression, that group lived much more peacefully. Even males would cuddle and groom each other.

A couple other scientists interviewed in the article noted that in societies where women held equal positions with men, the rate of violence in in that society dropped. Also, there’s a correlation between greater education and economic opportunities for women and a lower rate of violence within that society, probably due to lower birthrates and a more stabilized population.

But even evidence from the earliest homo sapien tribes indicates that they lived in a culture of violence. Weapons found in graves and scratches and scrapes on bones indicate “war wounds.” And then there’s things like history classes, World War II, the ten o’clock news that illustrate our immense capacity for violence. Our daily lives, when we feel that rush of anger and our fists itch to punch something.

There are plenty of other factors, what ifs, and maybes to this question of inevitable violence. But the monkeys even adapt to a their circumstances and tone down aggression when it’s not necessary to their survival. Just because the first humans thousands of years ago were violent doesn’t mean we can be. Remember, they didn’t have iPods, pizza, or take bubble baths. We’ve come along way since then. We don’t have to fight other groups for food, or to survive the day. No, our lives are not at all like 10,000 BC.

So say there is conclusive evidence, someone discovers a violent gene perhaps, that shows humans are inherently violent. This is not permission or an excuse to start a fight or another war. Because, as violent as we can be, we’re also just as capable of peace. And I wonder if the real problem is we forget that sometimes.