[extropy-chat] destroying gardens?

[Keith Henson]

At 11:45 AM 25/06/05 -0700, Mike Lorrey wrote:


>--- Keith Henson <hkhenson at rogers.com> wrote:

snip

> > Why do humans periodically kill large numbers of other humans?
> >
> > If you consider the period length and the exception cases you will be
> > half way to the answer.

snip

>War, crime, and other mass maladies, are the result of population
>pressure

It isn't just population or densely populated Europe would be at war all 
the time.  Near as I can tell it is the ratio of resources to population, 
more or less income per capita.  Even more it is *anticipated change* in 
income per capita, with the worse situation being a downturn after a long 
run up.

>and lack of individual liberty. Having enough space for
>everyone to be truly free on their own land, free of force and
>manipulation by outside groups, is a key requirement for peace and
>justice.

Something that is just not going to happen if the population is rising 
faster than the resources to support that population.

>When enough people feel they are oppressed, either by their
>own government, or by a foreign government or population, they will
>rise up to make their demands heard.

I think the *mechanism* behind wars and related social disruptions is the 
circulation of xenophobic memes.

>In Zimbabwe, you have a problem

snip

This being something that evolved over millions of years, before our 
subspecies of hominid wiped out the rest of them, you would expect it to be 
common to all wars and related disruptions.  Such as Rwanda, the US civil 
war and Germany in the 20s.

Keith Henson