We may be living in the most peaceful era in our species' existence, says Steven Pinker
- Published on Monday, 17 October 2011
'Believe it or not, violence has been in decline for long stretches of time, and we may be living in the most peaceful era in our species' existence,' says the renowned experimental psychologist Steven Pinker in The Guardian.
'The decline has not been steady; it has not brought violence down to zero; and it is not guaranteed to continue. But it is a persistent historical development, visible on scales from millennia to years, from world wars and genocides to the spanking of children and the treatment of animals.'
In his latest book,The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and its Causes, he challenges one of modern society's deepest assumptions, that the view that current and recent times have been the most violent in human history is actually radically mistaken.