48 | Is War Natural After All? ~ Luke Glowacki

Nov 04, 2024

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Our ancestors did not wage war. Warfare emerged only when humans started settling down and storing food. Indeed, some modern hunter-gatherers still enjoy the peaceful existence that once was the natural state of our species.

Or so argues Douglas P. Fry, my guest in episode 8. I found many of his arguments convincing. For example, ancient cave art is surprisingly void of depictions of warfare. You can hear many more of his arguments in that episode, titled "Is War Natural For Humans?"

But not all scholars agree. Far from it. And I owe a voice to the other side of the debate. So here is an episode with one of the most thoughtful voices arguing for a deeper origins of war.

⁠Luke Glowacki⁠ is a professor of anthropology at Boston University where teaches courses on the evolution of war. And he believes that war has very ancient origins, indeed.

We had a very stimulating conversation, discussing topics such as:

(03:00) The debate: What can we all agree on? And what are the disagreements?

(12:10) Hunter-gatherers: Are they peaceful? And are they any good as models of the past?

(25:55) Archaeology: Cave paintings and broken bones

(34:55) Primatology: Chimpanzees and bonobos

(46:40) Implications: What can we learn from all this?

As always, we finish with my guest's reflections on humanity.

LINKS

Glowacki’s 2024 paper on the debate
Glowacki’s 2024 paper on the origins of peace
Glowacki’s 2022 paper, with Manvir Singh, criticising the “nomadic-egalitarian model” of human evolution.
- Related: A possible fishing platform from 475 thousand years ago? (Barnhan et al. 2023, Nature)
Glowacki’s famous 2012 paper, with Richard Wrangham, which uses chimpanzees as a model for human warfare.
The Chimpanzee raid:

You can read my essays and get the On Humans newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Email: ⁠⁠makela dot ilari at outlook dot com⁠⁠⁠

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