[extropy-chat] War Is Easy To Explain - Peace is Not

[Lee Corbin]

Keith writes

>>It was obvious even before E.P.
> 
> Maybe to you, but I certainly didn't understand it.

"Us versus them" has always, obviously, been a part of human nature.
Even in the animal kingdom, from ants to bull mooses, violence
is just, well, natural.  Chimpanzee and other primate groups are
never at peace either.  Maybe your emphasis here is on the word
"understand".

I thank you for two rather good explanations of two of my
questions, but I won't ask you to back up them up with
studies, however.

>>2.  why people cannot control their own envy towards
>>      those better off than they are, even though they've
>>      grown up seeing envy in all its ugly manifestations
>>      all their lives!
> 
> You need a concrete example here.

I gave an example of two Athenians, one who voted to exile
the other *simply* because he was envious of the other's
high reputation.

But that's an aberration to us, of course.  So take Bill Gates:
and don't tell me that all the antipathy towards him has
nothing to do with his being so rich.   Or do you think
that envy is a rare phenomenon?

>>4.  why there has been a uniform decrease of warfare per
>>      living human being during the course of history
> 
> In my EP, memes and war paper I address this.  Warfare is the ultimate 
> consequence of widespread perception of a bleak future.  I also would ask 
> you to support your statement with a study.

No study is needed. I'm amazed that you don't acknowledge the
correctness of the statement.  Perhaps I wasn't clear.  Wars are
*less* frequent per person per year than ever before, and this
has been monotonic for a long time.  I'm currently reading about
the founding of Russia, and before that I was reading Colonial
history, and before that 3rd century Rome.  Find me a fifty year
period in world history more peaceful per living person than the
last fifty years.   You *obviously* cannot.

Lee