Homo-Sapiens are at least 200,000 years old and the best we can tell our brain, as it is today, may be 36,000 years old or even older.
Most people find it hard to believe but scientists have found evidence 36,000 years old of humans with the “Modern traits” of art, music, open trade between peoples, and religious style burial rites.
So how are we smarter? The simple truth is that we are not smarter, more creative, or more resourceful than our ancestors were 7,000 years ago.
Today we merely have more information and more technology.
My point in all of this is that when people talk about martial art today being more effective in self-defense than they were in the past they are probably misinformed.
Yes, we have more information about psychology, physiology, and physics than we did 2,000 years ago but we still have the same brain, the same arms and legs, and the same violent tendencies.
Wrestleboxers talk about how they are pinnacle of the martial arts world, about how everything that has ever happened in the entire history of combat has led to them.
Then the guy that owns the UFC, I think his name is Dana White, really put his foot in his mouth when he made the comment that the martial arts have evolved further in the last 10 years, because of wrestleboxing, than they have in the last 10,000 years.
While there are instructors and styles out there which deal specifically with self-defense, most instructors teach their art as an art form.
Even the autobiography of Gichin Funakoshi spoke about he and others purposely changed Karate to make it less violent and more of an art form.
What they changed was the tone and focus of the art.
The Chinese arts are guilty of the same thing and dumbing down their art to match society.
The late Grandmaster Jimmy H. Woo told stories of how his family back in China were well known for their skill in martial arts but only taught their style to family members.
Due to these kinds of practices most martial arts lost their intent for violence.
Karate should be a superior methodology as it is far more advanced and has many more options and tools available to it.
Over the 25 years I have spent in the martial arts I realized that martial artist train to DO techniques while boxers train to hit people.
Since then the martial arts have sprang to life anew and make more sense that they ever have before.
The last thing I’ll say in this here is that I recently read another article about how the “Ancient” martial arts just aren’t adequate to deal with “Modern attacks.” What? The only modern attack I can think of is maybe a missile shot from a predator drone.
Even firearms aren’t really a “Modern attack” because firearms have been around just as long as most of the martial arts that are practiced today.
The martial arts became less violent but all you have to do is put that back in there; reintroduce the intent to cause injury with every blow, get them back to training to use their martial arts techniques for hitting people and shutting down the body by causing injuries and you’ll get the efficiency back.
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