#877 Luke Glowacki: Is Human Warfare Ancient or Recent?
Dr. Luke Glowacki is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Boston University and a faculty affiliate of the Center for Innovation in Social Science. He studies the evolution of complex social behavior, including cooperation and war.
In this episode, we talk about the evolution of war, and human cooperation. We start by defining war, and we go through the main sources used to study its origins, including animal models, archaeological evidence, and contemporary traditional societies. We tackle the myth that ancestral populations did not have anything to fight over or were too egalitarian to wage war, and also the myth that nomadic societies did not make peace. We discuss the main points of disagreement between the deep-rooters and the shallow-rooters, the best evidence and arguments from both sides, and the epistemic and moral implications of the debate. We then talk about large-scale cooperation in small-scale societies, and the main costs and benefits of intergroup cooperation and aggression. Finally, we discuss if peace is easy to maintain, and the role of key individuals in coalitional conflict.
Time Links:
Intro
What is war?
Main sources used to study the origins of warfare
Animal models: chimpanzees and bonobos
Archaeological evidence
Contemporary societies
A myth: ancestral populations did not have anything to fight over or were too egalitarian to wage war
The reverse kind of myth: nomadic hunter-gatherers didn’t make peace
The main points of disagreement between the shallow-rooters and the deep-rooters
The best evidence and arguments from both sides
The epistemic and moral implications of the debate
How do small-scale societies achieve large-scale cooperation?
The main costs and benefits of intergroup cooperation and aggression
Is peace easy to maintain?
The role of key individuals in coalitional conflict
Follow Dr. Glowacki’s work!
Follow Dr. Glowacki’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3A3Yep7
Human Systems and Behavior Lab: https://bit.ly/3OGIwc5
Works on ResearchGate: https://bit.ly/41zkAut