Big Think: The Significance of Language

http://bigthink.com/floating-university/humans-make-language-language-makes-us-human

This article appealed to me from the start. Any anthropology geek worth his salt knows that language gave the first modern humans an edge over their Neanderthal cousins. Scientists agree that Neanderthals could speak, but most hold to the belief that they couldn't communicate complex ideas or events. This likely contributed to their extinction. The video accompanying the article, both of which discuss the hard-wired ability of toddlers to acquire language skills, is excellent. It's pacing is just right, so the audience stays interested in the subject matter and doesn't feel rushed. It also has a friendly quality than most other lecture videos lack. The body of the article itself is curious. The second half supports the idea that humanity's use of language and increased ability to communicate over long distances has lead to a decrease in violence since the start of human history. While this theory does have some valid points (the author cites the Enlightenment and the Internet as examples), I'm not sure I would agree. The start of human history was one of the most violent times our species has ever known, but most of the violence was human against animal or human against Neanderthal. Our species was too busy fighting the rest of nature to fight itself. Human-on-human violence only increased with the dawn of civilization, and there's no evidence to the contrary. While the article states that humanity has "tamed itself" over the years, is this really the case? Granted, society no longer practices slavery, nor does it tolerate many forms of persecution that have been the norm. But that doesn't change facts: conflicts have only escalated over time.  Of course, after all the blood is spilled, the combatants go on a hiatus that can last for decades, even centuries, which leads to the impression that we're "taming" ourselves. But new conflicts always emerge, with newer, deadlier weapons wielded by people who've forgotten the suffering of war. Humanity is in such a period of hiatus now, as we have been since the Second World War. The question isn't if this period will end; it's when.