[bholdr]

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War came about following the creation of an agraian soceity. Before that we had conflict, but the weaker party would retreat.

Since humans existed without war for thousands of years, I think it is a reasonable conclusion that it is not a "natural state of man".

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I strongly disaggree- war existed in many forms in non-agrarian societies (think north american plains indians). Because we live in a world with competition and limited recources, conflict, weather it be in the form of war, skirmishes, whatever, is wholly inevitable and impossible to prevent in every case.

additionally, there is no such thing as a 'natural state' of humanity- continuity and change are ever-moving forces that cannot be qualified based on some notion of an 'original' state of humanity- adaptation and selection are the only constants that apply universally to aincient and modern humanity.

chomsky raises some excellent points, though he has to be taken with a grain of salt. try 'manufacturing consent'.