# David M. Buss **Domain:** Evolutionary psychology / interpersonal conflict **Doc Type:** Person Node **Maturity:** Developing ## Definition **David M. Buss** is a psychologist whose 2002 Edge response asks why people kill other people. The response distinguishes an urge from action and calls for explanations that can account for violence across historical and cultural contexts. ## Relationships - **Authored:** [“Why do people kill other people?”, 2002 Edge Annual Question](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10933); [[collections/Edge|Edge]] is the source-collection route. - **Behavioral topic:** [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] places this question beside capacities for restraint and cooperation; an urge is not a prediction about an individual. - **Article comparison:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] is an evolutionary-history route, not a claim that Buss was describing technology. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “From baby killing to genocide, from Susan Smith to Osama bin Laden, people in every culture experience the urge to kill. Some act on it.” > **— David M. Buss**, *Edge, “Why do people kill other people?”, 2002* [[reminders/Human Animality/The Urge to Kill Crosses Cultures by David M. Buss|The Urge to Kill Crosses Cultures by David M. Buss]] ## Sources - [David M. Buss, Edge response (2002)](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10933).