Was our body meant for combat?

[Zaine]

Folks are comparing weak, domesticated western humans with easy lives to wild animals that live in a perpetual struggle to survive.

If that's what we're basing it on, then sure we're not built for combat. Just like a pet dog is nothing compared to a wolf, even though anatomically and genetically they are pretty much the same thing.

You make a good point. I don't know the data on this (and I'm at work so I can't look it up at the moment) but I wonder how different we are evolutionarily from proto, and even early, humans. Our evolutionary tract definitely plays into it. Once we started living, and fighting, differently, we grew out of more "hardened" traits.

[RW]

Folks are comparing weak, domesticated western humans with easy lives to wild animals that live in a perpetual struggle to survive.

If that's what we're basing it on, then sure we're not built for combat. Just like a pet dog is nothing compared to a wolf, even though anatomically and genetically they are pretty much the same thing.

I agree, this is a very, very good point.

I still feel there is a hierarchy of sorts, which wouldn't really change even if we compare wild to fat & comfortable animals, e.g. a tiger born in a zoo who has never ever had to hunt or fight in his life vs a human, or a pet Pit Bull dog who's domesticated and raised in a loving home but that happens to fight a human.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Humans live in the environment they have made and modified for their comfort. Even if many now live in modern urban zones, comparing to wild animals is fair. The difference between any animal and a human is that animals can fight and defend themselves effectively by instinct. Most animals already possess natural weapons.

Humans are the only ones who have had to devise and make weapons to survive. Humans must also train and condition themselves to use artificial weapons and natural ones. Hands are adapted to fine motor tasks and grasping objects. A hand injury can be crippling or result in severe limitations. Making it an effective striking weapon requires much knowledge and training. Feet and legs are primarily for getting around. A foot or leg injury can also result in severe consequences from loss of mobility. Again, people have thought of safer ways to use these body parts as weapons.

The main point is that human bodies lack natural weapons, but make up for it by using intelligence to think about ways to train to become effective at fighting and defending themselves. It is the same process which allowed people to do everything from harnessing fire to inventing high-tech devices. Humans need to learn and think about how to effectively defend themselves without weapons.

[OneKickWonder]

Animals train and condition themselves too. We just tend not to call it training because that implies an intelligent plan.

Ducks and geese will start doing ever increasing flights around the local area as they prepare for migration. Starlings practice very fancy coordinated manoeuvres to prepare themselves to escape from birds of prey. Dogs and cats and wolves and bears routinely play fight. As do young monkeys.

We're not so different. And we're not so inherently weak.

Scientists have studied the human skull and concluded it is designed to withstand a solid strike to the face or the front of the head. The back of the head is weaker. Our limbs have more agility in front of us than behind. We've evolved to face danger. Probably just as well considering we can't run very fast.

I think the original question, are humans built for combat, is more complex than it first seems. Perhaps we need to ask, combat against what? I reckon the most hardened human fighter would last about 2 seconds in unarmed combat against an elderly arthritic lion, but I reckon the average man could easily knack a cheeky Billy goat as long as he didn't try to run away lol.

Perhaps we also need to ask, what kind of combat. I'd say we're not naturally built for combat sport. In a real fight, usually the outcome is decided in the first few seconds. In combat sports, folks will often slog it out for 3 or more minutes per round, for multiple rounds. Are we built for that? Probably not, but then in nature most fights are short but fierce, with one side either yielding or getting killed within seconds.

I think this is a really enjoyable philosophical debate, but I think it's far more complex than perhaps it initially seemed.

[JR 137]

How much have we really evolved?

Doesn’t look that different than us, does it?

[Tempest]

You people and your thought provoking questions...

Ok, so there is a lot to unpack here in what seems to be a simple question, however to begin to understand an answer it's important to also understand what is meant be combat:

Once again my friend the dictionary comes through in the clutch

com·bat

noun

noun: combat; plural noun: combats

ˈkämˌbat/Submit

1.

fighting between armed forces.

"men killed in combat"

synonyms: battle, fighting, action, hostilities, conflict, war, warfare; deathmatch

"he was killed in combat"

2.

nonviolent conflict or opposition.

"intellectual combat"

Now, with this said, I don't think we are going to be looking at "intellectual combat". As a result, the definition of "combat" is a struggle between armed forces. Our bodies are most certainly NOT built for that.

In point of fact, most of our weapons are designed specifically to kill OUR bodies.

Now, if you ask a different question: What kind of adaptations for fighting DO we have?

Now that has a more interesting answer. Most of our adaptations for fighting involve social violence.

Thick foreheads to absorb overhand blows. Large chest and back muscles. Lots of little things like that which really are indicative of tribal strengthening social violence.

That is, violence between members of the same group regarding status or territory, not necessarily intended to be lethal.

However, when we practice asocial violence, that is, combat, killing, or hunting for food, then we tend to use tools.

Starting with rock and the sharpened stick and evolving to the Atom Bomb, when men really want to kill something, they do so in a way that leaves no question and regards the idea of a natural body being "built for it" as foolishness.

Look at the wear and tear and damage to the body that military veterans have gone through for an example.

[singularity6]

Humans are quite the conundrum to me. We're quite territorial and destructive, yet we were never really built for physical conflict. Most people will choose flight over fight when presented with the option (even most hunters have to fight that feeling as they prepare to take an animal.) It takes a lot of training to make a human into a fighter. We also have a lot of vulnerabilities, and very few "natural" weapons.

[MatsuShinshii]

The argument has been put forward that our bodies are not meant for combat. OK lets go with that premise. So we don't have fangs or claws or razor sharp teeth, Our bone density is not that of a cow. We don't have horns. Heck we have many weaknesses, most of which has been pointed out in previous posts.

I'll grant and agree with all of this. However it is my opinion that we possess the deadliest weapon on earth. It allows us to work through and overcome weaknesses. It created martial arts and allows us to learn these fighting techniques. It trumps any weapon found in nature. It is the reason we have weapons that make us the top of the food chain. Can't remember the last time I was huddled in my cave worried about an animal attack.

We as a species have the most powerful natural weapon that exists. Our brains.

Our hands were not meant to be balled into a fist to strike. And in yet our brains figured out that it could be used for this. It even figured out a way to strike properly so as to do maximum damage with little to no damage to ourselves and more importantly where to strike to effect maximum damage. Our bodies are weak. And in yet our brains figured out a way to strengthen them. Our bodies definetly have weakness. Our brains figured out a way to use this against our enemies and capitalize on this fact.

For a weak inferior species not meant for combat we sure get our fair share of it. Since the dawn of time there has been disagreements between people and as such this has led to war (combat). First we use our bare hands to engage our enemies, then that darn brain of ours figured out how to gain an edge and we created weapons. Sticks and stones at first and then we created deadlier weapons as time went on. I would argue that although our bodies may not be fashioned for combat our brains sure are. Through proper training our bodies can and are forged into weapons whether they are meant for it or not.

Another thought springs to mind. Although our bodies might not be meant for combat, we as a species have been engaging in combat since the dawn of time. If you turn on the nightly news at 11 you hear about it pretty much every night. Wars are started between countries, neighbors kill each other, etc., etc. It's funny but no one told me that my body wasn't meant for combat before being sent to war.

Meant... maybe not but that never stopped the human race from engaging in it. Further more we are exceedingly efficient at it. I guess we need to answer the question, "if we are not meant for combat why then are we so efficient at it"?

[sensei8]

Our brains, huh?? We're in a world of hurt now.

Efficient?? To a point, however, this fragile mortal coil can only take so much combat before it becomes fatal.

Our bodies were thrown into combat involuntarily because of our brains' ineptness to act rationally against unwanted conflicts that we sometimes manufacture for mans own selfish unreasonable gains.

The body dies sooner or later because that's how it's designed, and throwing combat at it, well, just lowers its shelf life. How can a body survive combat when the things that make combat what it is, and are meant to possibly destroy it.

I acknowledge that the body can survive combat after it's been properly cared for by medical professionals, providing the body doesn't sustain fatal trauma to it.

A tank is meant for combat...but it too can only take so much!! It too, can be fixed, unless the damage is way to much.

[pers]

Just take a look at Bruce Lee ! he wasn't born with that ability but he build his body for combat through training in martial arts ,like Tyson did in Boxing ,Olympic wrestlers did in wrestling ,and all the karate and kungfu masters did and we as martial arts practitioners try to do .

Ever seen a little karateka punch a much bigger and stronger karateka and knock him out ?

he wasn't born with it ,he just trained hard to learn how to turn his hand into a weapon of combat .