Is War on the Way Out? - Institute of Politics at Harvard

[Douglas Carpenter]

3. but violence has declined globally - this is a fact

in this discussion above Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Pinker present the data - It really is not a matter of opinion. Violence has in fact declined. Just as it is a fact that polio, small pox and starvation have declined and literacy rates have improved. Both Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Pinker would be the first to say that there is no guarantee that this trend will continue. A single nuclear event or some other catastrophe could throw the progress toward a less violent world into pandemonium. But the data leaves no serious doubt that the trend over the centuries even in spite of the two world wars - but most significantly in recent decades - in the big picture violence has in fact and without a doubt declined.

IN this detailed talk Dr. Pinker presents a lot of the data from his book, The Better Angels of our Nature