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Originally Posted by tedkennedy
well yea humans didnt invent the bow or the atlat specifically for killing humans.
they just wanted a new hunting tool that just so happened to revolutionize the way they lived... the implications of killing at a distance are huge, no other animals can kill as efficiently as a human can.
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Yeah...but you said that human technological development was a result of our ability to project coercive threat. we didnt HAVE to invent to project any specific threat, we survived for thousands of years without spears/atlats. we used our minds and developed a technology that made things more efficient, made hunting more efficient. it wasnt the result of us deflecting anything, it was the result of our innovation.
with the stuff like atomic bombs i would agree because those are instances where people are racing to get to the finish line against each other. but my main point is that human development is not specifically tied to our ability to deflect threats thrown our way. it entails that, yes, definitly, as necessity is the mother of all invention, they say.
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edit: think about humanity hundreds and thousands of years ago. it was an extremely hostile place with constant human on human violence. what do you think has changed from then and now? why is there so much less violence and so much more innovation? are modern people all of a sudden not prone to violence? why do you think in a matter of a few hundred years all of a sudden humans just became super peaceful, super industrious and innovative people? please attempt to provide a decent alternate theory.
why is it so hard to believe exactly?
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i think you think that im disagreeing with the entire theory here. i agree with most of it. the stuff i dont agree with, from the information you've posted here, i posted above.
As to why humans have gotten less violent- i think its a matter of natural evolution. as people invent new technologies, everything becomes more efficient. thats the main function of technology. when things become more efficient, connections grow and develop. no longer does it take a day to reach the next county, we've developed cars to further minimize the troubles of traveling. you can fly around the world in a jet.
what happens when connections foster, on a person-to-person level is the interactions become more efficient, business prospers, trade prospers, cultures are able to share information and share perspectives and beliefs. in olden times people believed in god because thats all that was available. they couldnt go on the internet and read about buddhism or hinduism. they had their local church. or perhaps some visiting missionaries if they wanted to disavow their local religion and learn a new belief system. nowadays you have exposure to a literal world of belief systems to choose from, and different belief systems are allowed to overlap one another and exist in a more peaceful manner than in olden days when people would be killed for being of a different religion.
Another huge thing is, nowadays its simply more profitable to be peaceful. the crooks have learned that you can make more money working together than fighting against each other, and you can see this on a global level with stuff like the oil trade and how the united states literally goes in and takes out leaders in some countries to install dictators and shit.
Everything is more efficient, including crime. violence is limited to extreme situations in modern countries when before it was more accepted and common place. there's still alot of corruption and violence, its just evolved along with every other human system that has been in place for thousands of years. but as the world continues to shrink and as our inter-connection continues to grow, all of that shit is going to be filtered out, and IS being filtered out right now. You dont see witches being burned at the stake, but you see hicks dragging african americans through back country roads. its getting a little better.
anyway not to go off on a tangent but thats my perspective on the situation.