Roy

War is NOT inevitable. Our consciousness and compassion have been increasing in recent centuries, especially the 20th when we got to see and smell the enemy up close (the great dictators). Hitler, et. al, helped us to recognize racism, hatred, fear and inhumanity. Now we can go beyond it.

Barbara Hoffmann

I have more of a question. Is there a relationship between war, and the aging of a population. Average lifespan has increased over the last 100 years. As the age of a population increases, does the memmory of war, deterr it?

Dixie Martin

Waging war is a country's immature and often insane response to misunderstanding, lack of understanding, greed, fearing loss of power, resulting in power-struggles and conflict.

With education, understanding, wisdom and maturity, nations can achieve peaceful resolution of conflict, and the devastation of war can be avoided.

Chad

No, it seems to me, it stems from defending yourself against an adversary of some kind. Out will never stop in this culture, people have developed the idea that they deserve everything, by any means!!! It's become worse with countries having alliances like kids and there friends too. If you mess with one, even over something legitimate, you have to take them all on. So in short, we are passed the possibility of war ending!!!

Bette

war is inevitable. I second "Robbies" on air comment.

Mark Westwind

Game theory confirms that the presence of any type of dominant trait in a population will lead to conflict with the dominant traits winning out even if the dominant trait is a small segment. Short-term equilibriums are possible though. See the Game Theory class on iTunes U - fascinating use of game theory on biological populations. Left me a bit disconcerted that we'll always have turmoil and war.

Jonathan Axelrod

I can imagine a world without war, if the technological infrastructure continues to develop to the point where all individuals on the planet could be easily monitored and observed. The question of truth itself could be entirely eliminated. There would be almost no way to mobilize an army and begin war. In this way there would be a trade off between total human freedom from observation or total freedom from war. Army mobilizations might not ever be necessary if the truth was there from the beginning. I agree that education is the ultimate tool for eliminating war as well, we just need to work together so that information is freely available to facilitate the progress of humanity, so that we can focus on the most vital issues today such as starvation and climate change etc.

Judith

No . I don’t think war is inevitable. But I believe it is evolutionary (i.e. takes a long time). Over time the more peaceful among the world who are skillful at dialogue and communication will lay the ground work inch by inch. Even the most peaceful, compassionate, have emotional, angry occasionally violent reactions. It is a matter of practice, opportunity and example.

St John Mckay

No.

People talk about the inevitability of war in the framework of human nature, without addressing the fact that our natures are likely to evolve as far from how we are now as we have from our original ancestors. Namely, and indulge the 'fantasy', the internet no longer being an outside factor, and is at the micro level, so 'within' us. Hence, being 'in' each other, concepts like war will be redundant.

Okay, so that may be too 'out there'. But there's also the brilliant Radiolab episode (your guest started the episode off with the very question he's asking today) that discusses this with examples more down to earth: baboons becoming peace loving when the alpha males die off; a small ultra-conservative town accepting a cross-dressing mayor; breeding out aggressiveness in foxes by killing off the aggressive individuals and breeding the docile individuals.

As for women leaders stopping war: Thatcher, anyone? Besides, perhaps women are less aggressive, but wars are about leaders sending out other people to do your fighting for you. You don't have to be physically aggressive yourself.

Probably you guys don't have the time to watch it, as it's not specifically the type of video you are asking for, but here is an animation I made reflecting on war.

Thanks!

Debbie

I cannot believe war is inevitable, but a lot will need to change for war to become obsolete.

War should be seen as a last solution or as "not an option" so that we are forced to resolve conflicts without war.

Also, using phrases like "evil doers" to describe our enemies oversimplifies things and probably adds to conflicts.

Kay Buchakian

Yes, war is inevitable as long as there is greed, poverty, envy, and madness.
And as far as chimps are concerned, if they evolved to our level, I bet they'd start fighting. When they start putting up fences, stockpiling "stuff", electing rulers, hmmm - I can see where it's going.

Jaime

Not only is it not inevitable, it is obsolete. Show me a war in the last two hundred years that can be seen as a win. Even ww2 shows that who won had no effect on the future of those who lost. In fact if a alien came here and was told there was a world war, who do they think won and lost, they would get it wrong

Stephen Sergi

War is not inevitable!
Any culture that has more woman's rights has a higher quality of life. Woman should be at least 50% involved with government.
The Bonobo monkey traditionally had plentiful food, so the males do not fight over it with the females. Also there is a very uncompetitive and free sexual environment. My worry is if food and water become scarce, the powerful will take from the weak.

Chris

War is not inevitable. It is, however, extremely profitable for some. Wars throughout history have been about gain in some way. They aren't always presented or justified as such, but they are about gain for a few at the cost of the many. We can learn from history, and we can educate the human race to realize when they are being duped into misery for the profits of the hawks. We are not bound by our biology. We are not bound by our history. The road is steep and twisted, but we can reach enlightenment.

quincy

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
Pythagoras, mathematician
I can't say it better then him .It is inevitable as long as we keep exploiting others , including animals as it deadens our empathy and makes violence acceptable .

Will Stewart

Of course not. All this discussion of matriarchies, biology, and the rest is nonsense.

First: chimpanzees. Who cares? Would we argue incest or cannibalism or nit-picking are inevitable in human society because they have occurred in primate populations?

Second: war is not the same of violence. If they were, then of course war is inevitable. But that's just tortured semantics.

Third and finally: war is a choice. Any man can refuse to fight. Quakers don't go to war -- is it theoretically impossible for every person on earth to become Quaker? Of course not.

All those being said, any fool can see state-sponsored war will be around for some time.

A more interesting question is how to end war.

scott

Through out history, it has been the practice of some to use looting and pillaging ,as ways to enrich themselves. It comes down to greed and evil that some see war as a useful way to plunder others. Brian, please look at my website; www. bush-it-usa.com. I will be posting political artwork each week. Feel free to post the image of "Know your enemy" as it applies to why we have wars. (scott@bush-it-usa.com)

John Sealock

So long as humans have free will, there will always be war. In order to believe that war could be eliminated, one would have to believe that humans could one day come to a complete belief that compromise is a must. There will always be individuals and groups lead by individuals that believe there are issues for which there is no compromise. These issues will invariably lead to war.

Joyce Polistena

NO, WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE.
MIS INFORMATION ABOUT ITS SOURCES, HISTORY, ETC. IS ABUNDANT AND, I MIGHT ADD, IT IS SEDUCTIVE.

GREAT TOPIC FOR YOUR SHOW. I TRIED TO CALL IN BUT THE LINE IS BUSY.

rich

Yes, for now. There are no war genes but we are driven to survive and produce the next generation.