Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The debate about whether human nature is naturally good or naturally bad has been raging for as long as we have wondered about ourselves.
The latest twist is good news for peaceniks: scholars at Abo Akademi University in Finland claim to have established that human beings are not inherently warlike creatures, after all. In fact, they say, the hand-to-mouth hunter-gatherer life led by the vast majority of our ancestors might have been entirely free from organised conflict.
The research certainly looks like a cheery riposte to the darkly violent picture of the past posited so convincingly of late by the likes of Steven Pinker, Jared Diamond et al. Then again, maybe not. After all, for all the warm glow of a prelapsarian beginning, how much jollier to think that we might be making progress?
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments