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Dr. Pinker has some good points, but I think he missed one. To quote Paul Graham: "Technology had made it possible to create wealth faster than you could steal

Dr. Pinker has some good points, but I think he missed one. To quote Paul Graham: "Technology had made it possible to create wealth faster than you could steal it." This fact has made it increasingly less profitable to steal from others directly, to invade other countries for financial reasons, and to do so many other things that either are violent or lead to violence. As that statement becomes increasingly true, there will be increasing little reason to commit violence for economic reasons, which accounts for a very large portion of it historically. That alone certainly does not explain all of the decline Dr. Pinker cites, but I am confident it is a significant contributing factor.

madebylaw 17y ago
Technology also made it easier to kill and enact violence more quickly and on a larger scale.
- Maktab 17y ago
  And yet wars continue to grow fewer in number and decrease in severity as the years go by.[1] Something, obviously, has been changing our world for the better. [1]http://www.humansecurityreport.info/ http://www.humansecurityreport.info/
- berntb 17y ago
  Pinker's point was that despite this, violence is lower in the modern world. If you can't be bothered to read the article, he did a TED talk too. :-) http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_...
- maxwell 17y ago
  But much harder to hide. The strict punishments of yore were compensation for the lack of a mature "battle tested" set of tolerable laws, not to mention the limitations of contemporary forensics. The odds of getting caught for murder are greatly higher in 2000s Germany than 1300s. Plus, technology provides distractions that are sustainably more rewarding than violence. We can satisfy our "quench for violence" with sports, movies, videogames, and perhaps even conversation/debate. We've got intellectual room to explore now. As contemporary programming languages are significantly more expressive than past versions, think about the unknown concepts of our ancestors. As Michael Chriton said in "Aliens Cause Global Warming": "Remember, people in 1900 didn't know what an atom was. They didn't know its structure. They also didn't know what a radio was, or an airport, or a movie, or a television, or a computer, or a cell phone, or a jet, an antibiotic, a rocket, a satellite, an MRI, ICU, IUD, IBM, IRA, ERA, EEG, EPA, IRS, DOD, PCP, HTML, internet. interferon, instant replay, remote sensing, remote control, speed dialing, gene therapy, gene splicing, genes, spot welding, heat-seeking, bipolar, prozac, leotards, lap dancing, email, tape recorder, CDs, airbags, plastic explosive, plastic, robots, cars, liposuction, transduction, superconduction, dish antennas, step aerobics, smoothies, twelve-step, ultrasound, nylon, rayon, teflon, fiber optics, carpal tunnel, laser surgery, laparoscopy, corneal transplant, kidney transplant, AIDS... None of this would have meant anything to a person in the year 1900. They wouldn't know what you are talking about." And how many more concepts a person in 1900 knew than one in 1800, and so on. Interacting with people through violence is like writing native code. Most realized that making stuff ("assembly") is more fun and profitable.

madebylaw 17y ago

Technology also made it easier to kill and enact violence more quickly and on a larger scale.

Maktab 17y ago
And yet wars continue to grow fewer in number and decrease in severity as the years go by.[1] Something, obviously, has been changing our world for the better. [1]http://www.humansecurityreport.info/ http://www.humansecurityreport.info/
berntb 17y ago
Pinker's point was that despite this, violence is lower in the modern world. If you can't be bothered to read the article, he did a TED talk too. :-) http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_...
maxwell 17y ago
But much harder to hide. The strict punishments of yore were compensation for the lack of a mature "battle tested" set of tolerable laws, not to mention the limitations of contemporary forensics. The odds of getting caught for murder are greatly higher in 2000s Germany than 1300s. Plus, technology provides distractions that are sustainably more rewarding than violence. We can satisfy our "quench for violence" with sports, movies, videogames, and perhaps even conversation/debate. We've got intellectual room to explore now. As contemporary programming languages are significantly more expressive than past versions, think about the unknown concepts of our ancestors. As Michael Chriton said in "Aliens Cause Global Warming": "Remember, people in 1900 didn't know what an atom was. They didn't know its structure. They also didn't know what a radio was, or an airport, or a movie, or a television, or a computer, or a cell phone, or a jet, an antibiotic, a rocket, a satellite, an MRI, ICU, IUD, IBM, IRA, ERA, EEG, EPA, IRS, DOD, PCP, HTML, internet. interferon, instant replay, remote sensing, remote control, speed dialing, gene therapy, gene splicing, genes, spot welding, heat-seeking, bipolar, prozac, leotards, lap dancing, email, tape recorder, CDs, airbags, plastic explosive, plastic, robots, cars, liposuction, transduction, superconduction, dish antennas, step aerobics, smoothies, twelve-step, ultrasound, nylon, rayon, teflon, fiber optics, carpal tunnel, laser surgery, laparoscopy, corneal transplant, kidney transplant, AIDS... None of this would have meant anything to a person in the year 1900. They wouldn't know what you are talking about." And how many more concepts a person in 1900 knew than one in 1800, and so on. Interacting with people through violence is like writing native code. Most realized that making stuff ("assembly") is more fun and profitable.