> He didn’t claim that “conflict is being better managed” or that “things are getting better,” Hang on, my reading of Pinker is that he claims exactly that. Ce

> He didn’t claim that “conflict is being better managed” or that “things are getting better,” Hang on, my reading of Pinker is that he claims exactly that. Certainly Gates thinks so: this post on Enlightenment Now is about "how and why the world is getting better"! If I disagree with OP, it's only because Pinker directly addresses the growth of the legal system in Better Angels with his discussion of Leviathan. I certainly don't think it's irrelevant to Pinker's argument, since he explicitly lauds Hobbes and the rise of state power as a major factor in the decline of violence. As for better access to justice, that's a vastly harder question, and largely one of definition. But yes, I'd be inclined to argue that the evolution of social structures has frequently traded off declining violence against rising injustice.