# Nonkilling Human Biology/Human nature

If members of all human cultures are found to share a set of behaviors then do those "universal" behaviors reveal genetic predispositions that are part of human nature? Is it a part of human nature that humans have a genetic predisposition towards some specific cultural elements? For example, is a genetic predisposition towards human language behavior part of human nature? Do humans have a genetic predisposition towards "territorial expansion and defense"?
Do cultures based on a hunting and gathering lifestyle such as that of the ǃKung people provide evidence that humans do not have a genetic predisposition towards "territorial expansion and defense"?
How many hunting and gathering people have been studied?

## Paleodemography

Is it possible to measure and compare violent death rates in ancient human populations that lived either before or after the Neolithic Revolution?. A recent article by Samuel Bowles says that about 14% of deaths in 8 ethnographically studied hunter-gatherer cultures and 15 archaeologically studied hunter-gatherers cultures were apparently due to coalitions of members of a group inflicting bodily harm on one or more members of another group, suggesting that warfare is frequent and lethal in hunter-gatherer cultures.

## Genetic predisposition

Much research onto human genetic predispositions receives funding because it is medically-oriented research that explores susceptibility to disease. Understanding of genetic predispositions to disease has been possible for many genes that have important functional roles in fundamental metabolic processes. For example, many gene variants have been linked to hereditary (inheritable) forms of cancer. Many well-studied examples of genetic predisposition to cancer are "high penetrance" examples that concern disease phenotypes that can be causally linked to gene mutations without a need to examine modulating effects of the patient's behavior or complex gene-environment interactions by which a person's cultural environment can significantly modify disease risk. However, some types of cancer show dramatic variations in incidence through time and between different cultures. The incidence of some forms of cancer is greatly increased by identifiable environmental factors and cultural practices. For example, the manufacture, advertising and sale of addictive tobacco-containing products can greatly increase the rate of smoking and the incidence of cancer. Does it make sense to say that humans have a genetic predisposition to nicotine addiction which has led to tobacco use in many cultures? Similarly, do some some humans have a genetic predisposition to alcohol addiction? Can the genetics of violence be studied in the same way that other human behaviors (such as addiction-related behaviors) have been investigated?

## Evolution

If humans are part of a clade that icludes other member species that use violence in ways similar to humans, is that evidence for genetic predisposition towards human patterns of violence? For example, chimps have been seen killing members of other chimp groups in a way that is similar to lethal intergroup violence displayed by humans.

## Related books

* Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, by Carl Sagan.
* The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers. See the introduction; Introduction: foragers and others by Richard B. Lee and Richard Daly.