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Because it's human nature to solve everything through violence.

I swear, a best-of-five chess match would be a lot less violent, but the Pentagon keeps ignoring me.

Yeah, wars and stuff are always a lot worse than we think. I'll never join the military because I honestly can't see myself hurting anyone else. If it were up to me, I'd totally dismantle everybody's military and stuff. But those atrocities have been occuring forever, and they probably won't stop anytime soon. The best I can say is stop watching documentaries *shrugs* I guess that's about all you can do.

...actually, moving to Canada might work, too.

. . . and Al Qaeda has stopped ingnoring you and the next tape from Bin Laden is going to be chess tournament challenge? xp

What? Think about what you're saying. That's absolutely bonkers! xp Let's go back 2000 years and see!

*insert special effects here!*

Whew! Okay, really though, at that time there was open slavery, constant warefare, the average life expectancy was less than 35 years, you had rampant leprosy, bandits roaming the counrtyside, Israel was occupied by the Roman Empire an empire built on the foundation of conquest and slavery not to mention that watching people get mauled by lions was considered entertainment, no TV, phone, or internet xp , illeteracy! how many people could read back then? There are more people alive now that can read than just about all of the dead literate people throughout all of ancient history. There was no dentistry. Imagine life without modern dentistry! Worst of all there was no icecream! Maybe things would be okay in Darfur if they had more icecream. 3nodding
Silly? Hey, were're talkin' icecream man. xp

Now sure, it wasn't total chaos everywhere all the time, but life was tough back then. By comparason we live in a paradise. I'm not saying everything is superfantastic now, but dial back through history and if you look you can see that every era had it's problems just as we have problems today. 3nodding I just don't think these are the dark times you say they are. I would rather live today than any time in prevoius history.

Humankind is also the only species that fights to protect it's weakest elements.

Humans are incredibly paradoxical by nature, and it's one of the reasons behind so much death today and yesterday (metaphorically).

By trying to progress, we don't change anything meaningful, things are just as bad now as they were 2000 years ago. Sure, on one level we have much more advanced science and medecine, but at the core, what has really changed? People still wage their petty wars, the many starve to feed the few, people ignore the plights of their neighbors; the list goes on and on. The only true difference is that today we do it with much more "advanced" methods.

And yet, humans are still altruistic and cooperative whe they wish to be. Other animals have exhibited communal behavior and portect their weakest elements, but humans are able to do it at a much larger scale thanks to the power of cognitive thinking and ingenuity. Humans are also one of the few, if not only, species to reject "help" from others, based on a number of factors.

My point is that humans are capable of either great trust or great paranoia, but we never embrace either. If everyone on Earth was totally callous and didn't mind anyone else's business but their own, I feel that the world would be a much better place. On the other hand, I also feel that the world would be a much better place if everyone was totally trusting and genuinely cared for the well-being of others. Unfortunately, neither is and neither will ever be true. We can't stick to one extreme because of our conflicted nature, and that is the root of all other problems.

Death occurs perhaps because we still comply with the very basic natural law, "Survival of the fittest". We still do it to earn our mates("I saw you staring at her" *POW*). We still do it for food in a crisis(ever saw those idiots fight for food before an impending disaster?).

In war, we perhaps show it on a larger scale. They fight for what benefits them. Few will fight for some meaningless ideal they believe in, and even if they claim to be, it's only a front for their actions.

Well, that seems like a rather large generalization, especially since humans have sentient thought and, as seen on numerous occasions, are quite capable of solving problems through diplomatic means.

Actually, one of the largest differences between animals and humans is that animals DON'T kill members of their own groups, and rarely kill members of the same species. Contests of strength and dominance don't usually end in blooshed, and those that do are minimal. The reasons for this is that neither wants to become vunerable to other predators in the wild, so why take the risk of getting injured?

Humans are the only species to date which actively kill and maim members of the same species, separating along lines of race, nation, tribe, or numerous other ways to segregate. The question remains, why?

Have we grown arrogant because we have no natural enemies, thus having no fear of pain or injury?

Is it more intelligent to remove threats permanently, even after assuming dominance?

Humans cannot be compared justly to other animals, as we really are a unique bunch of critters. Even if you get past sentient thought and culture (which is responsible for a great deal of the differences), we still are far removed from the other members of Animalia. Humans and dolphins are the only animals that have sexual intercourse for reasons other than mating, and humans are the only animals that commit suicide.

We are quite different, and the reasons why will explain the cause of many deaths in this world.