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Do not fill this in! === Conflict === {{further information|War|Violence}} [[File:Into the Jaws of Death 23-0455M edit.jpg|thumb|American troops [[Normandy landings|landing at Normandy]], WWII.]] Humans commit violence on other humans at a rate comparable to other primates, but have an increased preference for killing adults, [[Infanticide (zoology)|infanticide]] being more common among other primates.<ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Yong E|date=28 September 2016|title=Humans: Unusually Murderous Mammals, Typically Murderous Primates|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/09/humans-are-unusually-violent-mammals-but-averagely-violent-primates/501935/|access-date=7 May 2021|website=The Atlantic|language=en|archive-date=7 May 2021|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/|url-status=live}}</ref> Phylogenetic analysis predicts that 2% of early ''H. sapiens'' would be [[murder]]ed, rising to 12% during the medieval period, before dropping to below 2% in modern times.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gómez JM, Verdú M, González-Megías A, Méndez M | title = The phylogenetic roots of human lethal violence | journal = Nature | volume = 538 | issue = 7624 | pages = 233–237 | date = October 2016 | pmid = 27680701 | doi = 10.1038/nature19758 | bibcode = 2016Natur.538..233G | s2cid = 4454927 }}</ref> There is great variation in violence between human populations, with rates of homicide about 0.01% in societies that have [[List of national legal systems|legal systems]] and strong cultural attitudes against violence.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Pagel M | title = Animal behaviour: Lethal violence deep in the human lineage | journal = Nature | volume = 538 | issue = 7624 | pages = 180–181 | date = October 2016 | pmid = 27680700 | doi = 10.1038/nature19474 | bibcode = 2016Natur.538..180P | s2cid = 4459560 | url = https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/67361/1/Pagel%20N%26V%20on%20Gomez%20et%20al.pdf | access-date = 30 July 2022 | archive-date = 20 May 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220520203015/https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/67361/1/Pagel%20N%26V%20on%20Gomez%20et%20al.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> 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 holds that war evolved as a means to eliminate competitors, and has always been an innate human characteristic. Another suggests that war is a relatively recent phenomenon and has appeared due to changing social conditions.<ref name="Ferguson-2018">{{cite web|vauthors=Ferguson RB|date=1 September 2018|title=War Is Not Part of Human Nature|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-of-human-nature/|website=Scientific American|access-date=30 July 2022|archive-date=30 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130124940/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/war-is-not-part-of-human-nature/|url-status=live}}</ref> While not settled, current evidence indicates warlike predispositions only became common about 10,000 years ago, and in many places much more recently than that.<ref name="Ferguson-2018" /> War has had a high cost on human life; it is estimated that during the 20th century, between 167 million and 188 million people died as a result of war.<ref>{{cite magazine | vauthors = Ferguson N | title = The Next War of the World | magazine = Foreign Affairs | date = September–October 2006 | url = https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2006-09-01/next-war-world | access-date = 30 July 2022 | archive-date = 25 April 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220425051203/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2006-09-01/next-war-world | url-status = live }}</ref> War casualty data is less reliable for pre-medieval times, especially global figures. But compared with any period over the past 600 years, the last ~80 years (post 1946), has seen a very significant drop in global military and civilian death rates due to armed conflict. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8832311/war-casualties-600-years|title=600 years of war and peace, in one amazing chart|first=Zack|last=Beauchamp|date=June 23, 2015|website=Vox}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page