[Book Sip] Human Origin 3.9 Million Years Ago... History of War Only 6,000 Years Old

The ancestor of modern humans, Australopithecus, appeared 3.9 million years ago. Humanity lived in a peaceful world without war for over 3.8 million years. Anthropologists have revealed that prehistoric people who lived by hunting and gathering spent only 12 to 20 hours a week searching for food. This means their average daily working hours were only 2 to 3 hours.

However, around 4000 BCE, that is, 6000 years ago from now, humans began waging war. Since then, human history has been nothing but a record of endless wars. Border disputes, raids to capture victims for slaves or sacrifices, wars to enhance the glory of empires or to acquire new territories continued without end.

Steve Taylor, the author of Ego Explosion, examines why the peaceful history of humanity became familiar with terrifying violence and oppression, and why humans developed primal desires to clash, dominate, and oppress. According to him, dramatic climate changes that occurred around 4000 BCE in Central Asia and the Middle East triggered changes in human society. As survival was threatened by climate change, humans began to become aware of 'individuality.' The author calls this the 'ego explosion.' He argues that from the moment humanity awakened to the ego, war, male dominance, and social inequality appeared, and humanity entered an era of 'corruption' marked by collective psychosis. Taylor teaches psychology at Leeds Beckett University in the UK.

Since recorded history, human society has had three important characteristics: war, patriarchy, and social inequality. (p.17, What Went Wrong with Humanity)

After war began around 4000 BCE, humanity seemed to compensate for the peaceful times by turning most of the planet's surface into continuous battlefields. Until the 19th century, European countries fought wars on average every two years, and between 1740 and 1897, Europe experienced 230 wars and revolutions. Some countries went bankrupt due to military expenditures; at the end of the 18th century, the French government allocated two-thirds of its budget, and Prussia spent 90% on the army. Although wars decreased in the 19th and 20th centuries, this was due to technological advances that allowed wars to end quickly. In reality, the number of deaths caused by wars increased sharply. Approximately 30 million people died in wars between 1740 and 1897, about 15 million in World War I, and, unbelievably, about 50 million during World War II. (pp.20-21, What Went Wrong with Humanity)

An interesting fact is that despite anthropological research worldwide, almost no traces of war have been found in hunter-gatherer societies up to 8000 BCE. For example, in 1999, archaeological excavations at three different locations around the world found no evidence of war during the Late Paleolithic period, from 40,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE. (Omitted) Archaeologists discovered over 300 cave art galleries from the Late Paleolithic era, but none depicted war, weapons, or warriors. Based on this evidence, archaeologist W. J. Perry stated, "All the data available to us show that the hunter-gatherer stage in history was the most perfect state of peace." (pp.40-41, The Pre-Corruption Era)

Around 4000 BCE, social violence such as war, social oppression, and male dominance became chronic. As argued earlier, the fundamental cause of these changes was environmental. According to James DeMeo, around 4000 BCE, "the most significant environmental and climatic changes since the Ice Age occurred." DeMeo, synthesizing vast research data, claims that "desiccation affected the Saharasian region." The Saharasian region is a vast area of dry land stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Central Asia. It includes many deserts such as the Sahara Desert in North Africa and the Arabian and Iranian deserts in the Middle East. Between these deserts are areas that are not deserts but extremely dry. Today, the Saharasian region has poor vegetation, almost no rainfall, few rivers or lakes, scarce animals, and most areas are uninhabited. However, until around 4000 BCE, the Saharasian region was close to a forested grassland, filled with lakes, rivers, humans, and animals. Moreover, DeMeo states, "In 4000 BCE, rainfall was much higher, and some basins in the Saharasian region that are now dry were filled with water tens or hundreds of meters deep, with endless rivers flowing through valleys and wadis." The fertility of the Saharasian region until 4000 BCE was probably due to the melting of glaciers after the last Ice Age, which caused sea levels to rise. However, eventually, the glaciers completely melted and disappeared, leaving no moisture. Sea levels dropped, and drying began from the Near East and Central Asia. Rainfall decreased, rivers and lakes evaporated, plants disappeared, and famine and drought worsened. Agriculture became impossible, and hunting no longer guaranteed catching animals. As a result, animals and people massively fled the region. As previously noted, people living in this fertile region before 4000 BCE were peaceful, non-patriarchal, egalitarian, and had healthy and open attitudes toward gender and the body, like all other people on Earth at that time. However, environmental changes caused by desiccation brought devastating consequences not only to lifestyles but also to the human mind. DeMeo said, "Due to environmental changes, people shifted from maternal preference to paternal preference." (pp.54-55, The Beginning of Corruption, The Age of Violence and Madness)

There are, of course, positive aspects to the new kind of mind created by the ego explosion. (Omitted) The new ability to think independently, developed by our ancestors in response to harsh environments, bestowed upon them and us new capabilities such as invention, creativity, and rationality. (Omitted) The new ability to solve and conceptualize problems that arose with the ego explosion gave humanity a new talent for organization. Partly, this made the Egyptian civilization possible because rulers and governments could now extend their authority over wider areas and unify heterogeneous groups under the same administrative system. (pp.153-154, The Emergence of a New Mind)

Corruption also gave us other benefits. Without the ego explosion, there would have been no philosophers like Plato or Kant, nor psychologists like Freud or Jung. Like science, the insights of philosophers and psychologists emerge when we focus attention inward rather than on the external phenomenal world, using the ability to self-reflect and examine our own minds and predicaments. (Omitted) One could add that philosophers and psychologists were even more necessary during the age of corruption. Philosophers were needed to understand the absurd and chaotic human condition, and psychologists were needed to understand and heal the deeply divided human mind. (pp.158-159, The Emergence of a New Mind)

There have been attempts to explain war in chemical terms. We often hear explanations that male aggression, which caused war and patriarchy, results from the large amounts of testosterone in the male body. On average, men secrete 5100 micrograms of testosterone daily, while women secrete 100 micrograms per day. This implies that all men are Vikings who love to fight, have sex, and spend time. (Omitted) However, the biggest problem with chemical and evolutionary psychological attempts to explain war is that animals and humans are not as aggressive as these claims suggest. If humans were genetically and chemically designed to be aggressive and wage war, why was there almost no war in human history 6000 years ago? You might say that pre-corruption humans had lower testosterone levels (or higher serotonin levels) than later humans, or that their genes were less selfish, but both claims are unlikely. (pp.199-201, The Origins of Social Chaos 1 - War)

Ego Explosion | Written by Steve Taylor | Translated by Woo Taeyoung | Sustain | 424 pages | 22,000 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.