The Firmware of Violence

The biggest news this week is the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.  Philosophers and psychologists have long claimed that war is Man's natural state. And today I'm going to reflect on this truism. Can we as a human species ever outgrow war as a way to settle conflicts?

First of all we have to acknowledge that we are all born different. Both genes and our environment shape the way we think and feel about the world. The moment a child is born, we can see that each one already has a different personality--some cry louder than others, some are more active and others show annoyance over certain types of discomforts.

If we put two individuals with different personalities in close proximity, frictions are bound to occur. Each one of us have different wants and expectations.  We want to control the environment around us so that it maximizes our comfort and pleasure. We want to feel at ease--to not feel threatened and to live the life we choose.

At the same time, we also realize that no individual can live in isolation. We seek the companionship of others to fulfill both our physical and psychological needs. We need things and services that come from others and that is what makes an economy.  Naturally, genetically similar individuals flock together. When similar people congregate, they create a way of living, which we call 'culture'.

Culture emerges naturally out of human interactions. Genetically and culturally similar people is what makes a tribe. A tribe, or culturally similar tribes occupying a geographical area becomes a country. Laws are written down to formalize the previously unspoken contract between these individuals. 

Law and culture bind a nation together, allowing everyone to know what is acceptable, and what is not. No one will have all their wants and preferences met but the fact that they choose to remain within a society means that the benefits far outweigh its inconveniences.

Is it any surprise that the differences between countries are no different from differences between individuals? Political leaders who determine the course of a nation are both a reflection and a magnification of the peoples beliefs. A strong leader accentuates and reemphasize certain cultural beliefs of a nation. 

A leader can come to the conclusion that his or her nation is under threat. And to protect the people's interest they should go to war. And so a country goes to war with another. 

Is war ever justified? Certainly not. But can humans outgrow their violent impulse to subjugate another? Not when we have uncontrollable fears, wants and urges. Is there a way out of this quadmire? Not with our present level of thinking. We need a massive paradigm shift to lift ourselves up to the next level of civilization.

But that is not impossible. We have fundamental shifts in human society before--like the abolition of slavery and the emancipation of women. War is a tougher nut to crack. How do we outlaw war and enforce it? With what? With more violence?

How do we as a human species outgrow our animal instinct for territoriality and violence? These instincts are deeply embedded in our hardware and firmware. We cannot reengineer ourselves genetically yet. It is also difficult to change our culture--which I liken to firmware and operating system. But we can certainly enforce it on the application layer. 

That's where law and ethics come into play. Religion was supposed to be a powerful software that could alter the behaviour of humans but it is a double-edged sword, which, more often than not, is used to justify violence and accentuates differences between people.

Mental transformations can only happen gradually by examining our firmware code line by line. That's where mindfulness come into play. When a violent instinct arises, you detect it early, acknowledge it and insert a check: if violent, let go. Slowly, it'll become a habit that's part of the firmware.