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#685 Kim Sterelny - The Pleistocene Social Contract: Culture and Cooperation in Human Evolution

The Dissenter

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The Threat of Intergroup Violence in the Holocene

There are no massacre sites in the record. Once you get to the Holocene, there's plenty of warfare scenes, but there isn't the forehand. Chimps don't patrol territory because they live in much smaller territories than forages. Forages live in much larger territories. They're far too large to engage in patrolling and territory defense. So I'm skeptical of this picture of eternal warfare. You know, humans would have occasionally broken out into violent interactions with the neighbors from time to time. It was all peace and love at one time.

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