Editing Society (section)

===Conflict===
{{See also|War|Violence}}
[[File:Napoleons retreat from moscow.jpg|thumb|alt=refer to caption |[[Napoleon]]'s retreat after [[French invasion of Russia|his failed invasion of Russia]] in 1812 (oil painting by [[Adolph Northen]], 1851)]]
The willingness of humans to kill other members of their species ''en masse'' through organized conflict (i.e. war) has long been the subject of debate. One school of thought is that war evolved as a means to eliminate competitors, and that violence is an innate human characteristic. Humans commit violence against other humans at a rate comparable to other primates (although humans kill adults at a relatively high rate and have a relatively low rate of [[Infanticide (zoology)|infanticide]]).<ref>{{cite web |last=Yong |first=Ed |date=28 September 2016 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/humans-are-unusually-violent-mammals-but-averagely-violent-primates/501935/ |title=Humans: Unusually Murderous Mammals, Typically Murderous Primates |website=The Atlantic |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507121602/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/humans-are-unusually-violent-mammals-but-averagely-violent-primates/501935/ |archive-date=7 May 2021 |access-date=12 January 2024}}</ref>

Another school of thought suggests that war is a relatively recent phenomenon and appeared due to changing social conditions.<ref name="Ferguson">{{cite web |last=Ferguson |first=R. Brian |date=1 September 2018 |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-of-human-nature/ |title=War Is Not Part of Human Nature |website=Scientific American |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130124940/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-of-human-nature/ |archive-date=30 January 2021 |access-date=12 January 2024}}</ref> While not settled, the current evidence suggests warlike behavior only became common about 10,000 years ago, and in many regions even more recently.<ref name="Ferguson"/>

Phylogenetic analysis predicts 2% of human deaths to be caused by homicide, which approximately matches the rate of homicide in band societies.<ref name="Gomez">{{cite journal |last1=Gómez |first1=José María |last2=Verdú |first2=Miguel |last3=González-Megías |first3=Adela |last4=Méndez |first4=Marcos |date=October 2016 |title=The phylogenetic roots of human lethal violence |journal=Nature |volume=538 |issue=7624 |pages=233–237 |bibcode=2016Natur.538..233G |doi=10.1038/nature19758 |issn=1476-4687 |lccn=2005233250 |oclc=47076528 |pmid=27680701 |s2cid=4454927}}</ref> However, rates of violence vary widely according to societal norms,<ref name="Gomez" /><ref name="Pagel">{{cite journal |last=Pagel |first=Mark |date=October 2016 |url=https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/67361/1/Pagel%20N%26V%20on%20Gomez%20et%20al.pdf |title=Animal behaviour: Lethal violence deep in the human lineage |journal=Nature |volume=538 |issue=7624 |pages=180–181 |bibcode=2016Natur.538..180P |doi=10.1038/nature19474 |issn=1476-4687 |lccn=2005233250 |oclc=47076528 |pmid=27680700 |s2cid=4459560 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520203015/https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/67361/1/Pagel%20N%26V%20on%20Gomez%20et%20al.pdf |archive-date=20 May 2022 |access-date=12 January 2024}}</ref> and rates of homicide in societies that have [[legal systems]] and strong cultural attitudes against violence stand at about 0.01%.<ref name="Pagel"/>