While We Wait: Writer's Block & Other Lame Excuses

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I don't think its something that always bubbles up within us constantly.
Violence is a tool, how willing you are to use it or how much you want to use it depends on a large variety of additional factors. Clausewitz claimed war was politics by other means; violence is argument by other means. We have elected to restrict its usage; that doesn't mean that people don't want to use it.

Once again, generalizing your own frame of mind to others is quite the leap.
 
I thought I was arguing more "biological gender is irrelevant when determining your capacity to kill, at the end of the day we are all products of our environment" but you could make me out to be hating on women if you really want to I guess.

I appreciate your clarification.
 
Aside from the silly floating stones, some hideous particles and few copy pasta mechanics I'm pretty stoked for this.


Link to video.
 
Are we driven to violence the same way we are driven to sex?

I think for most of us, violence is a reaction to certain circumstances - feeling blocked and limited, or seeking revenge, or seeking to end a threat. I don't think its something that always bubbles up within us constantly.

Jesus Christ, how many times does this need to be reiterated? Symphony is not saying that you want to murder someone constantly, or even the much humbler claim that everyone wants to murder everyone all the time. He's saying that killing has happened since the dawn of humanity - quite a lot of it - and that so much indicates that there's something about killing that we Just Do and it's a part of humanity.

Calling it inhuman or wrong is a contradiction in terms, unless humanity is inhuman or wrong.
 
Only you're outright denying historical and anthropological evidence suggesting murder has always been taboo. But what do I know? It isn't like I study human society or anything.
 
Only you're outright denying historical and anthropological evidence suggesting murder has always been taboo. But what do I know? It isn't like I study human society or anything.

I think Symphony's counterpoint would be that the existence of a universal taboo would indicate a universal presumption to violence absent such checks. There's no need to ban something that society doesn't even conceptualize as a problem.

You can be right that the majority of people don't spend the majority of their time killing, and Symphony can also be right that our biology gives every man innate aggression instincts by merit of the steroids acting in our chemical pathways when we're challenged in a certain way.
 
Edge of Tomorrow is pretty good, see it while it's in theaters.

Only you're outright denying historical and anthropological evidence suggesting murder has always been taboo. But what do I know? It isn't like I study human society or anything.
Except for the huge murder rates in tribal societies, as tallied by anthropologists, that have been brought up in this discussion multiple times that you continue to absolutely refuse to recognize, refute, or engage with in any way, shape, or form whatsoever. All you've done after spouting off about medieval murder rates, which had absolutely nothing to do with this topic, is continue bleating "Meh meh meh, I know so much but nobody listens, poor ol' Luckymoose!" Nobody is listening because you're just whining and posturing, not saying anything of value. Cite some sources and address the actual discussion and points raised if you want anyone to care. Actually make your damn case and engage, or stop with the drive-by snarking and passive-aggressive self-fulfilling "I don't need to engage because nobody will listen" crap. Jesus Christ.

I think Symphony's counterpoint would be
Don't speak for me. Don't presume to speak for me. I can communicate fine, thanks.
 
Except for the huge murder rates in tribal societies, as tallied by anthropologists, that have been brought up in this discussion multiple times that you continue to absolutely refuse to recognize, refute, or engage with in any way, shape, or form whatsoever. All you've done after spouting off about medieval murder rates, which had absolutely nothing to do with this topic, is continue bleating "Meh meh meh, I know so much but nobody listens." Nobody is listening because you're just whining and posturing, not saying anything of value. Cite some sources and address the actual discussion and points raised if you want anyone to care. Jesus Christ.

The evidence is flimsy at best. You said 50% of humanity died from violent murder. That is patently false. You're pulling numbers out of your ass based on the work of academics no one takes seriously.
 
The evidence is flimsy at best. You said 50% of humanity died from violent murder. That is patently false. You're pulling numbers out of your ass based on the work of academics no one takes seriously.
Your admission that you don't actually read points you disagree with has been noted. Once again, you're using an offhanded mention of psychohistory to sit there and pompously dismiss every single point out of hand. Congratulations, you're bad at arguing and comprehension.

This was in my very first follow-up. It was relinked and mentioned several more times after this point. They're not my numbers. They're Lawrence H. Keeley's. He's a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He outranks you in the discipline. Refute him. I'm waiting.
 
Your admission that you don't actually read points you disagree with has been noted. Once again, you're using an offhanded mention of psychohistory to sit there and pompously dismiss every single point out of hand. Congratulations, you're bad at arguing and comprehension.


This was in my very first follow-up. It was relinked and mentioned several more times after this point. They're not my numbers. They're Lawrence H. Keeley's. He's a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He outranks you in the discipline. Refute him. I'm waiting.

The chart presented in "War Before Civilization" is based on modern tribal societies directly influenced by contact with and threats from modern societies. Using them to compare with pre-historical societies is stupid. The control group has been tainted, I'm afraid. And this man clearly missing valuable data related to, I dunno, cradles of of civilization such as the Niger where warfare levels were historically much lower than anywhere else because of an abundance of resources. But hey, I guess studying jungle people who experienced exploitation is a reliable method to predicting tens of thousands of years of human history that directly contradict the numbers.
 
Using them to compare with pre-historical societies is stupid.
Prove it.

The control group has been tainted, I'm afraid.
That is certainly a possibility. As you'd know if you'd actually read any of this discussion instead of playing the part of a broken recording, I have in fact said on two separate occasions that the study's numbers may not actually be reflective of prehistoric societies and that would neatly polish off my case. "Luckymoose said they weren't" isn't persuasive evidence though, sorry.

And this man clearly missing valuable data related to, I dunno, cradles of of civilization such as the Niger where warfare levels were historically much lower than anywhere else because of an abundance of resources.
More Resources + Time → More People → Less Land and Resources Per Capita + Greater Density → More Conflict (→ Conflict-fueled Centralization → Centralized Monopolies on Violence → Decline in Violent Deaths → Additional Enforcement and Behavior Modification → Further Decline in Violent Deaths → Repeat)

185,000 years = Time++

But hey, I guess studying jungle people who experienced exploitation is a reliable method to predicting tens of thousands of years of human history that directly contradict the numbers.
e: I misread this because my urge to do violence in response to this argument is rising. I'll try again: you can't prove or disprove anything without any records, and by its very nature, prehistory doesn't have those. Your desire to generalize modern kill rates back to prehistoric man is no more credible than my assertion that modern tribal kill rates were the norm. Both are equally credible, and there's no way to disprove either unless you have some really ace research up your sleeve. If you do, act like someone who earned a Bachelor's degree and set an example for all the high schoolers reading this pissing contest by citing your sources. Otherwise, your supposition is only as good as any other, including mine.
 
C9icero asked me to post a thing and I think you are all wrong. Only I am right. We must all give our lives in the name of the glorious People's Revolution. Hipseters uper ablles, gentlemen.
 
I remember when I was 17. I'd probably kill that guy.
 
I remember when I was 17. I'd probably kill that guy.

Symphony is such a manlyu man he sets all h girls aquiver
he's like a modern-day gaston

from Beauty and The Beast or whatever i oyl watched that movie once when i was watching these kids for a theatre thing. hisgh school is dmb
 
If you kill a past version of yourself (assuming for a moment this would not erase you from existence and ignoring whatever the mechanics of time travel are), are you really legally liable? It can't be claimed you committed suicide, because present you still exists. In some ways, it can't be claimed you committed murder in the traditional sense, because the biological form and memories of past you live on in current you. Future copies clearly take precedence. If you meet yourself and he has an eyepatch and a beard, beware.
 
Only you're outright denying historical and anthropological evidence suggesting murder has always been taboo. But what do I know? It isn't like I study human society or anything.

Oh, of course. You study history and you suddenly know everything about all humans forever and always. Move aside, anthropology, psychology, biology, and physiology - I just wrote a paper about the French Revolution. My groundbreaking position? It happened.
 
Oh, of course. You study history and you suddenly know everything about all humans forever and always. Move aside, anthropology, psychology, biology, and physiology - I just wrote a paper about the French Revolution. My groundbreaking position? It happened.

I, unlike you, study social history. I don't care about political or military history, it isn't my cup of tea. I study human beings throughout history. Human beings. How they behave. How they interact. Not Hitler, no, I study the unknown little farmers and women and children you people so carelessly toss around into giant groups of violent, warmongering, conditioned monsters. Don't tell me what I know.

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Symphony is such a manlyu man he sets all h girls aquiver
he's like a modern-day gaston

from Beauty and The Beast or whatever i oyl watched that movie once when i was watching these kids for a theatre thing. hisgh school is dmb

I remember the first time I drank alcohol.
 
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