Comments on: True Violence

By: Paleolithic-style battle and chimp fighting (more maneuver war than attrition) « Mike Kenny

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:59:39 +0000

[...] Robin Hanson writes about what real violence looks like in humans, as opposed to the violence of TV … I comment there: there was a recent gang fight among two chicago gangs caught on video–can’t find it at the moment, but it was on youtube–and it conforms to this description of fighting. one person was killed. [...]

By: Stuart Buck

Stuart Buck — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:54:23 +0000

Here’s a video of a real street fight. If you blink, you’ll almost miss it (around 1:15 or so). http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/dont-pick-onthe-wrong-guys.html

By: Floccina

Floccina — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:29:16 +0000

Before antibiotics a small cut could kill a person.

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:24:00 +0000

One of the interesting effects of this is that Reality is Unrealistic. There's a ton of stuff about this. See also Only A Flesh Wound, Instant Death Bullet, and Blown Across the Room, among others. All of these are mostly part and parcel of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, with a particular focus on the Rule Of Cool, Rule Of Drama, Rule Of Funny, and Rule Of Scary, as goes violence in stories.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:04:07 +0000

There is a long tail of resistance to physical damage, and ability to dish it out. If you’re not experienced at throwing punches, and your target is experienced at taking them, you’re not even going to slow him down.

Of course, given the accuracy of this post’s subject, you’re unlikely to ever have the chance at a throat punch if you’re in real danger; it’ll be a knife from behind or an overwhelmingly intense onslaught from a few experienced people. If you do have a chance to do anything, remember you’re likelier to be able to match an experienced attacker’s sprinting ability than his fighting ability.

By: George

George — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:28:38 +0000

Try Rashomon? A bandit gives an account of a sword fight that he won. A peasant who secretly witnessed the fight paints a very different picture.

By: TGGP

TGGP — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:10:45 +0000

I've been interested in Collins' book every since Tyler mentioned it, but it was always so expensive. I just checked it out on Borders' site though, and apparently its now in paperback for much cheaper. There was a collection of movie scenes called "Ultimate Fights", one of which was from "Crossing the Line". That one seemed to aim for an unusual degree of realism in that the fighters get really worn out a while before the fight ends. They only go on because, in accordance to what Collins said about such organized bouts, there is a surrounding fight infrastructure which compels them to continue.

By: Mike Kenny

Mike Kenny — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:14:27 +0000

Will a group of male chimps ever carry off or take possession of the females of a group of males they have vanquished? According to this book chimps do try to kill all the males of a rival group and bring the females into their group (p31 at the bottom).

By: John

John — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:00:42 +0000

Unforgiven was pretty accurate. And commented on the unrealism of literary depictions. Also: the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:28:57 +0000

Speeding bullet releases energy and forms temporary cavity. Instant unconsciousness occurs. Intracranial bleeding,and edema quickly raises intracranial pressure, causing respiratory arrest. Some brain gunshot wounds are survivable,especially if small low energy bullet used. If delayed brain death supervenes it is principally due to due to intracranial pressure.