Declining Human Violence (Humans)
by xeno6696 
, Sonoran Desert, Thursday, June 14, 2012, 23:23 (4543 days ago)
I'm finally to the statistics part of the book, "The Better Angels of our Nature." -David is right in some respects... this is, in its undercurrent, a silent advocacy of the policies of Europe--resolve more control to the state. This idea makes sense for them--because Europe has *always* had a ruling class... a distinction that is completely foreign to those born here in the United States. -(Which still has a ruling class, only they can hide in the shadows...)-But the ONE thing that is irrefutable from the initial look at the evidence... is that even by IGNORING the projections of violence in the past...-Since the 1800's, when statistics have begun to be quite readily available...-Violence REALLY HAS been decreasing in the "west," and even WWI and WWII only account as blips on the radar of its downward trend. -I repeat again, that the measure of this is DEATH RATE... meaning, that Pinker's data is predicated on the number of deaths, per 100,000 per year. -100:100k/yr means that you WILL lose at least one person you know in your lifetime. (Equivalent to the death rate in the Rwanda genocide.) -The death rate for WWII was 45:100k/yr.-Tony will hate this... but he really SHOULD read this book... it has challenged my thinking in ways I can't even describe... I'm seeing hope for not being Machiavellan anymore...
--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"
\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"
Declining Human Violence
by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Friday, June 15, 2012, 01:10 (4543 days ago) @ xeno6696
I'll add it to my list of 'to read' books for sure. If the violence really is declining, that is a wonderful thing. However, I still hold that if all he is counting is the death rate, then the statistics are not truly valid. Our ability to save someone from the brink of death has increased dramatically. So unless he is accounting for ALL violence, not just those resulting in casualties the numbers are off.
--
What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.
Declining Human Violence
by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Friday, June 15, 2012, 01:18 (4543 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained
I'll add it to my list of 'to read' books for sure. If the violence really is declining, that is a wonderful thing. However, I still hold that if all he is counting is the death rate, then the statistics are not truly valid. Our ability to save someone from the brink of death has increased dramatically. So unless he is accounting for ALL violence, not just those resulting in casualties the numbers are off.-He has explicitly included deaths from famine, and from infection. (Older wars made us just as likely to suffer infection as direct combat .)
--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"
\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"