Civil or Not?

So, yesterday in my history class, we had a very interesting conversation. We were in the middle of a lesson about the Cro-Magnons (an early form of humans that had a skeletal structure identical to us modern folk). And it then lead on to Hammurabi and his whole "an eye for an eye" thing.

My teacher then asked an interesting question: Do you think that we, as modern humans, are more civilized now than we were back then?

For a moment, there were no hands in the air. It was deathly silent. Everyone was pondering for a few minutes as the teacher smirked at us, amused by how hard we were digesting this question. Finally, a friend of mine raised his hand and said, "I think that we haven't become more civilized. It's just more published."

At first, I didn't get it what he meant. But then he explained, "We do the same things back then, only we have better communication skills. Every event, every action we do is published in the news, radio, magazines, etc. History repeats itself. We still have our primal instincts. Though our laws are a bit more organized,we still break them by appearing animalistic. We still have ridiculous consequences for what we consider crimes. Death penalty isn't civilized. Back then, they'd kill you if you killed someone and you'd have no trial."

In some areas, I disagreed with him. But overall, I thought that was a really great answer. I appreciated my teacher for even asking the question. Things like that really make us think and collaborate as a whole.

My opinion, though, is yes and no. Yes, because like my friend had mentioned, back in Hammurabi's time, you killed someone, they'd kill you--no trial. We've become a bit more civil by trying to actually prove the crime. Some people get off the hook, whether or not they did it. There was no "getting off the hook" that long ago.

But, I agree with my friend in the sense that we still have some primal instincts. We--and I mean the human race as one whole--still have that savage feeling within us. Luckily, most of us know how to tame it. While others, our serial killers and friends, don't.

In essence, I think the humans are still the same. The only things that have changed are our government, economy, religious beliefs, and our technology. All of those things have improved, except religion (that's a totally different element), to cater to human needs.

The Cro-Magnons improved their tools to help themselves hunt easier, carve easier, and plant easier. Our technology has improved to help people commute more efficiently, communicate better, take away some labor, and of course, for our entertainment. Both the Cro-Magnons and Homo Sapiens improved their ways of life to help each other out. That's civil.

So, I guess it kind of goes go 50-50. I don't know. It was just a cool thought I wanted to write about.