Human evolution; violent or not (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, June 30, 2023, 17:43 (302 days ago) @ David Turell

Based on chimp and bonobo societies:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2379915-ape-family-tree-suggests-human-ancestors-w...

"The last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos wasn’t especially prone to violence, according to a study attempting to reconstruct the evolution of warlike behaviour among apes. Hostility between groups of this ancestor may have been tempered by bonds between unrelated females, the study suggests – but researchers warn that its conclusions are highly speculative.

"The question of whether violence is integral to human nature has been debated for centuries. Biologists have tried to answer it by looking at chimpanzees, which, along with bonobos, are our closest relatives.

"All four subspecies of chimpanzee engage in gruesome violence between groups. Some biologists have noted parallels between this behaviour and human warfare, suggesting that the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees must have been violent and aggressive.

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"To get a broader view of the question, Opie and his colleagues collected data from 301 primate species on 13 traits linked to lethal violence, such as infanticide and male alliances. They traced the distribution of these behaviours across the evolutionary tree of primates and performed a statistical analysis to identify which behavioural traits were relevant to intergroup violence.

"They found that encounters between groups in the common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos probably weren’t always hostile, as was previously thought.

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"Opie and his colleagues found that the most recent ancestor we share with chimpanzees was probably the first ape that showed cooperation among unrelated females. They conclude that violence in males was kept at bay by such female alliances and the males having to cooperate to form coalitions.

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"The method of using evolutionary trees to reconstruct what ancestral species were like is highly speculative for behavioural traits, says Michael Wilson at the University of Minnesota. “The social behaviour of the last common ancestor [of humans, bonobos and chimpanzees] cannot be deduced in the absence of a fossil record for this species,” he says. “Even with a fossil record, inferring the social behaviour of extinct species poses tremendous challenges.”

"The study’s conclusions are plausible, but highly speculative, says Steven Pinker, also at Harvard University. “When it comes to the last common ancestor between humans and chimps, their inferences essentially are driven by just three data points: humans, chimps and bonobos.”

"Surbeck thinks aspects of aggressive behaviour are inherent to any social-living species. “I think that comparisons with our closest living relatives show us that there is an inherent propensity for violence in the form of infanticide, male sexual violence against females and even killing. However, social and environmental and, in the case of humans, cultural factors determine whether those traits are selected for and manifest within a species or context,” he says."

Comment: this study relies on evolutionary traits passing down from previous species. Pure Darwin-speak. The key is our intellect. We know good and evil and temper our reactions. We are vastly different from our ancestors. The criticisms speak for themselves.