And from "The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision",Capra and Luigi:...One reason for their befuddlement is that, like many other social scientists, criminologists believe that violence itself is a form of pathology. This is a mistake. Although some killers are indeed insane, violence itself is an organized, evolved capability of normal human beings, pursuing their interests in a world where people's interests conflict.
And from "Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships":In an interesting book, Demonic Males, the anthropologists Wrangham and Peterson, studying the aggressive behaviors of apes and humans, arrive at a grim conclusion: only humans and chimpanzees are "killing apes" with the habit or at least the capability of organizing themselves in male-bonding teams with the aim of killing in a cold-blooded way other individuals of the same species. Humans and chimpanzees diverged from each other only 5 million years ago, while the gorillas branched out 10 million years ago.
...For the time being, we have to accept the observations of the two already mentioned anthropologists, Wrangham and Peterson,who reject the notion that there are on our planet peaceful, idyllic places without violence, expressing this view thus:
"Neither in history nor around the globe today is there evidence of a truly peaceful society, but the suggestion that chimpanzees and humans have similar patterns of violence rests on more than the claims of universal human violence. It depends on something more specific- the idea that men in particular are systematically violent. Violent by temperament."
In other words, violence is not a general human characteristic, but rather a specifically male characteristic.
Bonobos, the species of apes that branched off from species of chimpanzees, approximately 2 million years after we branched off from common ancestor shared with chimpanzees, are peaceful, sexually egalitarian and extremely promiscuous. The evidence presented in "Killing the Competition" is that homicide (which is representative of overall violent behavior) occurs in situations of relative inequity of resource distribution among young human males. Not absolute lack of resources, relative inequity, very much inclusive of "tokens of respect."Forget what you've heard about human beings having descended from the apes. We didn't descend from apes. We are apes. Metaphorically and factually, Homo Sapiens is one of the five surviving species of great apes, along with chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans...The fine print distinguishing humans from the other great apes is regarded as "wholly artificial" by most primatologists these days.
...Like bonobos and chimps, we are the randy descendants of hypersexual ancestors
...We'll show that human beings evolved in intimate groups where almost everything was shared-food, shelter, protection, child care, even sexual pleasure. We don't argue that human beings are natural-born Marxist hippies. Nor do we hold that romantic love was unknown or unimportant in prehistoric communities. But we'll demonstrate that contemporary culture misrepresents the link between love and sex. With and without love, a casual sexuality was the norm for our prehistoric ancestors.
One of the slogans of the 70s feminist movement was "The personal is the political." We like to win. We very much do not like to lose. We want to share with those close to us. We want to protect the vulnerable and valuable.
Recent research on the embodied mind and the process of cognition reveals that feelings are thoughts we form about unconscious, unbidden, bio-chemical emotional states we enter into previous to forming the thought which is a feeling. My argument, based in good part on personal experience and reflection, and perhaps not yet well developed, is that if we wish to have a more peaceful society, the thought that our culture should first promote would be something like "Women must hold full, free, self-aware, non-transferable ownership of their own sexuality." Until women hold full ownership, they will not feel free to share their sexuality from a place of kindness and generousity . Until women feel free to share their sexuality from a place of kindness and generosity, competition will ensue. I do not believe that halfway measures, such as a return to archaic hypocritical rule of extreme universal monogamy, as promoted by some engaged in current discussion, will serve.
I don't promote this point of view based on some notion of female superiority. I promote it because I have been impressed by the peaceful (or at least more peaceful-lol) behavior I have witnessed exhibited by many males in my social circle when I endeavor to hold the thought structure I am promoting. For example. who amongst us is more peaceful in his striving than Zalo living amidst social circle of young females endeavoring to hold such a thought structure?