3 ms·

Also > If one were to calculate the amount of destruction that nations have actually perpetrated as a proportion of how much they could perpetrate [...] is an

• TheSpiceIsLife 12y ago
  Indeed, and I the way I read it in the context of the chapter, and the book, it was intended to come across as ridiculous. The infographic emphasises Pinker's point: The world has actually got a whole lot less violent over the past few decades, despite our ability to cause a lot more death and destruction, we choose not to. Another quote from Pinker, in the same book: "Also distorting our sense of danger is our moral psychology. No one has ever recruited activists to a cause by announcing that things are getting better, and bearers of good news are often advised to keep their mouths shut lest they lull people into complacency. Also, a large swath of our intellectual culture is loath to admit that there could be anything good about civilization, modernity, and Western society."