The Decreasing Violence of Man (Humans)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 04:04 (4595 days ago)

Pinker is finally getting towards the main thrust of his argument:-Unarguably the two bloodiest centuries were the 17th (with the Protestant/Catholic war) and the 20th with the two world wars.-But when you compare the actual rates of those killed...-Modern society demolishes tribal society. -He directly takes the statistic that Tony brought up--180 million dead in the 20th century... and by one swift division, the rate of dead vs. those alive due to either direct or indirect warfare is less than 1%...-If you compute... crudely... the total number of dead in the 20th century (this includes ALL wars and genocides where figures are available) it amounts to 3 % of the CURRENT population of the world. (Of ~6Bn.)-Beautifully... Pinker's argument for this decrease in violence is directly due to the Hobbesian Leviathan hypothesis...-As a Hobbesian/Machiavellan of my own admission... this is sweet vindication: Only through force can we decrease the use of violence.

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\"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.\"