The Future of Violence and The Amplification of Our Ancestors Flaws
Societies will continue to behave the way they always have. Only newer and shinier.
“People mistake technological progression for civilizational progression. We are the same people with the same flaws we've been for thousands of years.”
Reminds me of the book, The Sovereign Individual. Violence controls the world. And tech will only get better. The cutting edge of tech is the cutting edge of violence. Our thousand-year flaws, will only be amplified.
Blast From the Past
Imagine you are a nomad, roaming the vast scapes of land, foraging and hunting with a tight group of buddies. It’s a constant challenge from nature, but you forage ahead (not sorry for the pun) and coordinate spectacular take-downs of massive creatures. You share the hunt amongst the group. That was a lot of work (calories), phew!
Doesn’t make much sense to try and attack or fight other groups, does it? As it’s a waste of valuable energy. So, were hunter-gatherers naughty or nice?
There is a prevailing idea in pop culture, that hunter-gatherers were easy-going hippy-dippys, living off the land. The former is correct (land living), but the latter is still up for debate (hippies).
On the one hand, since hunter-gatherers didn’t own much, there wasn’t much need to interact with other roaming tribes.
“Other than a few simple tools and objects carried around with them, hunter-gatherers had almost no technology at their disposal.” (page 134)
And on the other hand, some historians and biologists believe that, primative-man was ‘universally belligerent’ and, “It is not peace which is natural and primitive but war.” (page 160)
So, which one is it: were hunter-gatherers war-mongers or flower-power lovers of their fellow homo-sapians?
“There were few neighbors outside one's own small family or clan to pose threats. Because foragers tended to roam in search of food, personal possessions beyond a bare minimum became an encumbrance. Those with few possessions necessarily experienced little property crime. When conflicts arose, the contending parties were often content to walk away because they had little invested in any given locale. Escape was an easy solution to personal feuds or exorbitant demands of other kinds” (page 161)
Basically, it wasn’t worth it to drop-gloves and go for a scrap (hockey reference). But, even though hunter-gatherer groups stayed away from each-other, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any Pleistocene era mayhem happening at the time.
“This does not mean that early humans were peaceful. They may have been violent and unpleasant to a degree we can scarcely imagine. But if they employed violence, it was mostly for personal reasons or, what may be worse, for sport.” (page 161)
In sum, hunter-gatherers were nice within their own small tribes, and only fought other tribes if it was necessary (or maybe worse, fun). The flaws of our species in this era, were controlled by our old brain, survive at all costs (as long as it doesn’t cost you too much).
Till Until You Drop
Let’s bring us forward a bit. Imagine you are a yeoman farmer. You wake up early to till the land until your body bleeds. You work all day, constantly cultivating your labour of the land. All the while, keeping an eye out on the horizon for any raiding parties of wandering warriors.
“Five hundred generations ago, the first phase change in the organization of human society began” (page 153)
Hunter-gatherers didn’t stay in place for long. If there was danger they would typically move on. They also didn’t own much. There was no need to “keep things.” But when farming started, people needed to care for the crops and animals because they were now considered valuable. This led to raids and smalltime warfare. Therefore, farming land needed to be protected. How do you keep your farm without losing your life? Enter, the proto-government.
“Specialists in violence, the fore-fathers of government, increasingly devoted themselves to plunder and protection from plunder.” (page 329)
Or in other words, “We’ll steal sh*t for you, and keep sh*t safe for you…only if you give us half of your sh*t.” Sound familiar?
“This tended to increase the size of societies because contests of violence more often than not were won by the larger group. As competition over land and control of its output became more intense, societies became more stationary. A division of labor became more apparent. Employment and slavery arose for the first time. Farmers and herders specialized in producing food. Potters produced containers in which food was stored. Priests prayed for rain and bountiful harvests.” (page 167)
Or in other words,
“The surge in resources capable of being plundered led to a large surge in plunder.” (page 169)
As you can see, the Agricultural Revolution gave us the technology to feed and destroy each other.
In sum, yeoman farmers created the food. Warriors stole the food. Other warriors protected the food, only if they got to keep half the food. The larger the group, the bigger the competition for land. This led to an explosion of death and destruction. Something we would never let go of.
The Long Game
“People mistake technological progression for civilizational progression. We are the same people with the same flaws we've been for thousands of years.”
Are we progressing at all? Have we change at all? Or was it our surroundings that have changed, but our brains remain the same? Will we ever learn to tame the long game?
The Information Age is a manifestation of our forbearers urge to continue living. It is the next phase-transition of the human species. Global connectivity. Cyber warfare. AI controlled drones. It’s here and not going anywhere, and only getting deadlier.
The future of violence is the same as the our past violence, but with more rivets and wires. Will the future of violence also bring a revelation towards peace? Our past is a reflection of who we were, and who we are now is an evolution of our flaws. We better figure out what’s important to us, or once again, history won’t repeat - but it will rhyme with the tune of waring groups and many lives lost to history.
Hopefully we get our sh*t together, or we’ll have the same flaws for the next thousand of years, but this time, amplified with Moore’s Law to back it up.
Thanks for reading these big ideas.
-D