In closing. I'll leave you a final thought: "The problem with everyone looking in the same one direction is that no one makes use of the opportunity to see what is going on around them, leaving them to remain locked in the same one place."
@interstellarwonder You are but a product of the people around you. That transcends people of every "colour". We all come into this world without any preconceived ideas or notions. (Like a hatred for "white people")
Hopefully one day you will recognize how unbelievably hypocritical and controlled you've been and understand what it is to be a critical thinker, and through that embrace the concept of what it is to be independant when it comes to your own mind and opinions.
@interstellarwonder You're part of the very group mentality you claim to oppose and seek to "destroy". I checked out your profile, and both in your profile description, videos and channel comments you show your discontent for "white people" in disgusting ways and spew out what is quite simply some of the most ignominious crap I've ever read.
Statistics can be used in both way for positive and negative. We are not living in a peaceful time, and people are not peaceful. People get into arguments everyday, fights happen, car wrecks, depressions, suicide, crime, jail, confusion. There is no placidity that anyone possesses. The reason why mankind is not yet extinct is ironically because of the terror of mutually assured destructed at the hands of our own inventions. That's the only thing keeping us alive not love and not understanding.
Why are their so many people here romanticizing the past (keep in mind that such behavior is a characteristic of fascism and statism)? Furthermore, why does one particular individual use antisemetic diatribe against Pinker?
Homosexual activists understand the power of words.
Please visit my channel to watch a one-minute video clip in which popular atheist author Richard Dawkins admits that homosexual activists "hijacked the word 'gay'".
The word "homosexual" is more appropriate and accurate because it, unlike the word "gay", actually describes the behavior/attraction/relationship being discussed.
The word "gay" helps homosexual activists push their agenda.
In the opening quote about Native Americans, he claims that there was no know substance abuse among Native Americans. Has the author of the quote ever heard of peace pipes? They had drugs; they just didn't place the same taboos on them like we do in modern American society.
@IseeRightThrough2you unless your a proffessor on the subject of native issues ,i suggest you keep your opinions to yourself. This is my point, ppl with white skin thinkiing it's okay to talk freely about other cultures and ppls.this is how ignorance and stereotyping starts then wars happens. & Billion humans.... lotsa wars & death to come
@interstellarwonder What point? I didn't bother to read your argument with that other user. You made a reply to him stating the following: "unless your a proffessor on the subject of native issues ,i suggest you keep your opinions to yourself." That argument is not only fallacious but self defeating. Does one have to burn his eyes out with a blowtorch to know that it will hurt? No. Does one have to go through driving school to learn how to drive? No.
@Qteri1 the point i made about ppl being violent ...always ,the opposite of what the speaker is tapping bullshit about. you not only read what someone else commented you actually read someone else's response! driving school does help, if you don't understand that i suggest getting some adult-ed.
@Qteri1 You're suggesting that the validity of a statement is rendered solely based on an individuals degree. That's moronic. In the case of cultural understanding, heritage and developmental factors, a degree isn't necessary to gather and/or obtain knowledge on any one or all of those subjects.
@Qteri1 In addition to that you mentioned:"This is my point, ppl with white skin thinkiing it's okay to talk freely about other cultures and ppls.this is how ignorance and stereotyping starts then wars happens."
This part of your statement is entirely contradictory. You're stereotyping yourself by saying all "white people" partake in X.
According to the book "Death by Government" about 262,000,000 people were killed by governments in the 20th century. Read the history of Iceland or the book "The not so wild, wild West" to see how anarchist societies are much more peaceful.
@Reelin111 no need, there are more ppl on the earth now than at any time in man's existance.Look at what wars have done, yet ppl of the world still haven't learned shit! Look at America, it needed to get into WW2 to get out of an economic rut.
violence has declined since biblical times? what about world war 1, 2, korea, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan? harvard university, jew minister of propaganda, steven pinker
@MrUsingDrugs He's saying that violent death has declined as a percentage of the population, of course more as a number die now but that is because the population now is very much larger than in biblical times.
For an alternative view of pre-agricultural human behavior google "Sex at Dawn pdf". Go to Chapter thirteen and find "Professor Pinker, Red in Tooth and Claw" for a break down of this very lecture. The entire book is an amazing read. Highly recommend it.
@gamenorus Human domination over this planet is very concerning, over population and any growth in poverty has a great deal to do with any and alll terrorism at home and abroad and lending within the proliferation of the earth and its resources which will only get worse if we dont all start working together, so whats all this 2012 all about anyway but all predictible when one knows what what knows within any intrinsic anthropology; Whats the Occupy Anything all about: Greed?
His presentation is somewhat vague. We have a much larger population than ever before. While violence as a percentage is surely down is it down in total amounts?
In other words if in the year 1 AD there was around 200 mill people in the word. if 50 million died by violence in a time frame that would be 25 percent. If 100 million died by violence in the current era it would be more in total numbers but much lower in percentage.
@madelefant05 He speaks in terms of deaths per 100,000 people - so percentages. Which makes sense, because total numbers of all things would be expected to go up with a 30 fold increase in population, so talking about total number of deaths wouldn't be very informative (for instance, saying X number of people died in Detroit is less informative than saying the average person has X chance of being killed in Detroit).
@madelefant05 I would suggest you read his book new book, the better angels of our nature. He does break it down for us mere humans.... as a side note being from a developing country I did a little research and yes violence is going down not as fast and marked as the developed world but indeed we are getting better at being humans....try to picture the carnage it could have been if PETA made a sit down outside the coliseum back in roman empire times.
@intestinomedicino I was wondering how much the rise of modern medicine has lowered that death rate by violence. The time frame that he gives as a major drop off is also the point at which we start to effective medical techniques to treat illness and injury. Also thinking of his mention of the change from hunter gatherer to agricultural/manufacturing brings to mind the modern technique of denial of resources. How many Ukrainians died in a politically created famine?
@madelefant05 Yes but we have to remember that when it comes to health offer and demand, one can only give the former until the amount of people getting sick surpasses the infrastructure capabilities then, we are by definition in a state of emergency, I mention that because the destructive power of our current weapons could easily turn any conflict just imagine Caligula and not Hitler with that kind of power. My point is yes we are better at healing ourselves but also at killing us.
The basic flaw in Pinker's analysis is twofold. 1st, because ancient or primordial man was situated in small communal villages, clan or pack settings, the evidence for their history is quite sparse (we have not, and more than likely will never gather all of the data). 2nd, due to technological advances due to the market, as well as dramatic increases of population due to the same, a smaller portion of humans are required to engage in warfare successfully. Pinker should stick to linguistics.
@synestheticmonotony considering the murder rates that we know about, then I guess that means it would be even higher, damn you stephen for being modest!
@synestheticmonotony there are small village size hunter/gatherer communities today, these are our best source of this culture that we have, as he explained. Is this not good enough for knowing the culture of ancient human culture?
You second claim kinda proves his point, we have become less violent because technology has advanced to allow us to achieve the same goals with less violence. Culture earlier in human history was mroe violent because of lack of technological advances.
@dilated1990 And let us not forget that a society that achieves a certain level of socioeconomic maturity which allows such technological advances would have to be, at the some basic level, non-violent. It is difficulty to have science, trade, and, well, innovation at all levels if your neighbouring competitors were encouraged (by sociocultural influences, i.e., "common practice") to compete by killing, raping, stealing your patents, or burning your place of business to the ground.
where goods don't cross borders, armies do. -Friedrich Bastiat.
In a world of protectionism and trade restrictions, everyone is at war with everyone else. Rather than vesting their interests in the well-being of others because of their abilities to benefit them, they see everyone as an impediment and an obstacle who is competing over the same resources and without division of labor.
Does anyone else find it ironic that the promoted video in the column to the side is Battlefield 3? Or is that only showing for me because of my view history?
It is important to note that as a nation becomes more educated and literate, they lose religiosity. We see this in Europe. And I am only talking about the loss of religiosity due to free will and scientific literacy - not force as was seen in communist nations in which they simply borrowed from their religious predecessors in oppressing societies. It is no surprise that the vast majority of scientists are atheists and non-believers.
I would think that wealth has contributed more to the drop of violence over the centuries more than anything, at least at the personal level. Well fed and sheltered people have no reason to be violent and that is probably why there is less violence in the developed world than in the 3rd world. Nukes have kept modern industrial nations from engaging in war due to the threat of being annihilated.
I dispute his decade data, he claims that the 1950's had a 65k deaths per conflict per year to less than 2k per year per conflict, but the Iraq war lasted 7 years and has resulted in about a million dead Iraqis which is about 130k per year. He must be taking every single conflict and averaging them out, including states that are at war with very little activity (like the US N. Korean war which is still on, but with a cease-fire)
This is complete horseshit. Pinker like most liberal God haters, would love to blame genetics for every evil out ther, but what he will never do is admit that human nature is impossible to predict. If it were, every abused child would grow up to abuse children. Every Phsycopath would raise Phsycopathic children.
Fucking eggheads will correlate anything to deny the obvious-That they don't have a fucking clue what conciousness is or where the fuck it came from.
"you think 'god' is the directly decided there should be conciousness?" Conciousness is a phenomenon that defies evolution. There have been no realistic explinations that adequately explain how it came about or the mechnaism by which it is formed. I do not adhere to the idea that physical material can somehow produce conciousness.
The fact that each of us is uniquely aware and we all have a different perception of reality denotes design. Ofcourse that is my opinion.
If you examine the seperation that is documented between mind and body, you begin to see that he mind clearly has control over the body to an extent that should not exist by rational standards.
Infact, The mind is so powerfull that one could realistically say that it is out of place in our bodies. The mind can be so strong that it can override every survival instinct supposedly put in place by evolution.
@commonsensrules there have been realistic explanations that explain how it is formed. human>ape>bush mammals. read 'a pilgrimage of life' by dawkins. evolution shows it is a gradual process. apes are clearly second smartest to humans so you can see that gradual process here today. 'any survival instinct' is part of the human brain... the brain is responsible for producing adrenalin hormones and stuff so it's not 'out of place compared to the body'. what do you mean how else can i explain?
Per capita he is right but in sheer numbers maybe not. in other words in the the world population in the year 2000 was 200 million. It is now 6 billion. The actual volume of violence might be higher even though the per capita rate much lower.
this guy talks from a highly eurcentric, highly upper class point of view...try growing up in South Africa and tell me that "violence has decreased over the years". The theory is BS.
@Microglia1 you clearly misunderstood his whole point, which was not that fewer people experience violence but that an ever decreasing percentage of people experience violence. The amount of people that experience violence increases because the world's population is increasing exponentially!
@jondibond Ever heard of the theory of relativity? Violence is relative. From his point of view, which there is still very little evidence (I mean he cited one source of archeological evidence and the bible), it seems to be but from my point of view it's not. Violence is committed daily in Africa, where I'm from. Had he grew up with an abusive father, I'm sure his point of view will be different. That's why it takes only a few people with very privileged background to create stupid myths.
@Microglia1 it doesnt matter whether he delivered the point or some other person delivered it. the statistics still stand. it was the percentage of population has decreased in violence.
I've read in Spencer Wells' Pandora's Seed that blunt force trauma was the primary killer of early human ancestors; & that this was primarily from the hunt of big game animals. Perhaps Pinker has conflated this statistic or did Wells hide information? Now I'm confused.
I find that bible verse he describes interesting, it seems a lot like how Lions behave, I guess its just a reminder that in the end we are still animals.
He can't make a claim about humans by talking mainly about post-agricultural statistics. That only covers about 10% of our history as humans and may, at most, tell us something about how modern culture has influenced our morality . He cites violence among modern "nomadic" and "hunter-gatherer" societies not representative of hunter-gatherer societies but influenced by outside cultures and modern times and his 7 cited societies are from 3 regions. Find more evidence for your bold claims, Pinker.
@1010happygolucky Actually, the New Guinean people he referenced are among those understood in the "outside" world to be among the least influenced by that outside world. I can't say much about South America except that there are certainly people living traditional tribal lives in the Amazon. True hunter gatherer societies are few and far between these days, so a modern researcher must work with what he has. Also, he didn't say anything about them being nomadic.
@captzdc I live in Montreal, I never said it was in the U.S. I don't know where you got that. Also, you misunderstand the difference between empathy and sympathy. I know what the difference is and I chose the right one. You disregarded my message and went after my perceived mistake. Why should a man who has never met any of the people who were at Dawson at the time, a man who is seemingly intelligent enough not to have some silly loyalty to a building, have to feel sympathy?
@captzdc What does him not sending anything to the DeSousa family have to do with anything? He graduated from Dawson in 1971, more than 30 years before the shooting. Do you think those condolences would have meant anything to the family? Such a superficial act of empathy? Do you think it would have made the family feel better? Do you equally look down upon on all the other graduates before and after who haven't sent anything? I am currently a Dawson student, small world lol.
I'm a Muslim, I assume he's taking verses from the Christian Bible to show how violent it is......BUT since we live in a secular society why doesn't he bring in modern wars for oil and secular wars of aggression? for some balance you know!
@dxvxvx Because humans are inherently violent, but religious humans are historically much more violent. Secularism is the step up from religion, there is nothing above secularism. Secularism is the base state at which humans are violent. Also, many of those secular acts of aggression today stem from the very long tradition of religious people feeling superior to those of different beliefs.
@dxvxvx Lol, of course I am. I disagree with your statements and I am automatically branded as one thing or another. YOU ARE A MUSLIM GO SLEEP WITH YOUR 7 WIVES. See how that works? Probably not. You stoop to the ad hominem fallacy, while I presented supported facts, you accuse me of not being like you. Maybe you need some of the Nazi education yourself. And to end this succinctly, you ain't nothin but a thang.
@acr08807 It depends on the type of Islam. Among Shiite, you can have 7-permanent wives and basically any number of temporary wives ranging in marriage from mere hours to whatever specified time - basically, a religiously sanctioned form of prostitution.
@dxvxvx If you believe that wars are fought solely for resources, then you, sir, are a fucking idiot. Secularists have a long way to catch up to the Muslims, Jews, Hindus, or Christians of the world.
@dxvxvx He most likely uses the christian bible because it is almost certain that there are a significant number of people that understand, if not believe in, the bible in his audience. Additionally, the bible was used to illustrate ancient violence and modern oil wars are not ancient.
@dxvxvx At that point, he was using the Bible as a historical document to show the violence of the tribes that created it. Their religion and their reasons to go to war are irrelevant, the point was that war was waged, and the horridness of those wars in the eyes of today's humans.
This guy is nuts, modern conflicts take FAR more lives then ancient battles. Of course there are more people on earth now then before so it is obvious that he is seeing people as statistics instead of individuals. How many lives did WW2 take, hundreds of millions?? That is unprecendented in history.
@WorshipInTruth The point is that the probability of death by homicide was higher in the pre-industrial era; Which quite shocking, given that disease and famine were also more prevalent. So although human conflict in modern history has taken more lives in absolute number, this is more a by-product of population growth and more deadlier military technology then more homicidal tendencies.
Aside total deaths due to the second world war is around 63 million (uncertain if it includes the holocaust).
@Scientisticsoviet 63 million is just a guess, it is a very liberal number if you ask me, I think the actual number is much closer to 150 million. Remember, even in much smaller modern wars which are only taking place in one nation it is hard to keep track. The numbers get so eschewed and confused. For example, they dont know whether it was 1 million or 12 million killed during the holodomor. Not to mention that WW1 which happened right before WW2 took at least 15 million lives itself.
@WorshipInTruth First small note: You mean a conservative estimate (liberal ones being defined as very high).
Second, the death toll is estimated between 60 an 80 million (more than which would be extremely problematic given demographic data).
Third, if I remember correctly, serious analysis using archival data on the 1930s famine in the USSR gives a maximum of about 5 million deaths (and a minimum of around 3). I cite the recently published book by Wheatcroft for that figure.
(cont.) Fourth, and MOST importantly, your claim was made with regards to the death toll in world war 2, not all wars in the first half of the 20th century.
@WorshipInTruth Yes there was severe loss of life in ww2. 20-25 million for Russia alone but the point he is making is that society itself is much less violent. How many cats burned downtown today for entertainment? Orphans beaten for trying to steal food (to death)? I'm thinking the total brutality we had caused more deaths over time. Empathy. You are a person too is the reason. Think of the unchecked murder, rape, torture, incest (a known generational violence that just continues on)
true that direct physical violence has declined. duels, hand to hand combat. however technology enables people to do devastating, fatal harm to others clandestinely from a distance. personally I'll take a fist fight over being fucked with from a distance with biological, chemical, electromagnetic/psychotronic weapons. people are all pussy now, hide in the shadows and shoot you with electromagnetic beams, just as violent/evil as ever, manifests in less obvious forms because of the legal system.
He only focuses his research on the western history and make a conclusion as if the entire world has same thinking.
I think this is the most frequent mistakes made by western researches, they don't consider world' multiethnicity and so this conclusion will not be applicable in other culture like the Chinese history or the Indian history.
@rochelimit55555 O.k., point taken. The recent globla trends seem be on par with his claim (for instance Wikipedia's List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate), but I agree that more (long-time) statistical material would be needed before making solid global claims. He is working on a book about the same topic, so let's see whether there will be more to scavange from in that.
@rochelimit55555 Reduction of violence starts from understanding the meaning of life. The West doesn't spend much time doing that. Their conclusions are always short-sighted because of this
most western researchers are far better and more neutral in their point of view than those in the east. He's doing his research greatly, I just hope that he improved because he is talking on behalve of the Human, which is complex. He really should look on world history and not just the west.
I saw Steven Pinker's lecture at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, in which he talked about the use of language in deception. He was very funny, engrossing, and probably the best public intellectual I have seen live. (I have to admit, however, that I haven't seen many other leading authorities in person.)
as our ability to comprehend and depth of compassion grows, violence should naturally decline. along with that, letting go of organized religion will certainly add to those declining violence statistics.
Personally I don't care about what those percentages say: a human life is a human life, and if you take the ABSOLUTE NOT THE RELATIVE NUMBERS of people that have died due to war since the past century the numbers surpass by far the number of lives lost due to war since humans appeared!! We are "living the most peaceful time in our species existence" AND YET WE ARE LOSING MORE LIVES THAN EVER DUE TO WARS!!
@freakyfadge Well, there are already almost 7,000,000,000 ppl alive. Even if ppl stop having children, there would be still plenty to kill compared to the approximately 25,000,000 ppl living all over the world 6,000 years ago. :P
@jrvillela Absolute numbers can mislead though. If you have a population of 10 and 5 of them die in a war, then 50% of your society has died from violence. Whereas in a population of 1 million people, if 10 die in a war, that’s double, but it’s still only 0.001%. You’re right that every life is precious, but if you have a growing populace with a shrinking rate of violent deaths, I’d say it's an improvement and it indicates a more peaceful society overall.
@drgrey87 So what? Should we feel "happy" cuz we live in a society which is "more peaceful overall" when still thousands of ppl die due to violence every year and after goverments as the U.S. are still spending billions of dollars in the military and wasting tons of valuable resources in weapons instead of using that wealth to reduce the gap between rich and poor? It's very easy to say: "we are living in more peaceful times" when one has not been a vicitim of, for example, the Irak war!
@jrvillela Although indeed we still do have violence, if the homicide rate was as it were in the middle ages we have far far more deaths from violent action.
The argument he is making is that things have gotten better; He doesn't argue that therefore we should stop improvement. Indeed, by deluding ourselves into thinking no progress has been made, we restrict further progress as analysis from which we draw conclusion & policy considerations will be quite skewed.
@drgrey87 He could also have stood in the middle ages and say: "hey, we are living in more peaceful times than ever inspite of all our perversity!!" making again no sense whatsoever.
And the cheap apology he makes for the State is really disgusting: as if it would be a sine qua non condition to live in peace!! What we need is to extend the use of reason and to develop our empathic emotions NOT A STATE!!
@jrvillela If I am not mistaken, the middle ages were more violent then antiquity. But that aside, as I said in my other post, he does not advocate no further improvement.
And I don't think he means to say that a state is sine qua non condition for peace, but rather, that having strong and consistent states makes it much easier to do (for the reasons he posits in the video).
@Scientisticsoviet Quite on the contrary: the core issue here is that regardless of what the relative rate of violence shows, more PEOPLE than ever in history are dying due to violence!! This guy speaks in a way that reminds me of Stalin's assertion: "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic" -seeing human lives just as a "statistic". I wonder if he would continue talking with such "optimism" regarding violence if one of his kids would be a victim of, for example, Mexico's Drug War.
@jrvillela You are still falling into red herring. I reiterate: "The argument he is making is that things have gotten better; He doesn't argue that therefore we should stop improving."
And again, how many more people would have died if the homicide rate had remained static yet we had today's population?
Aside, there is nothing abhorrent about using statistics. If they are accurate, they reflect reality. Such statistics help us understand concrete realities, form models and (cont.)
@Scientisticsoviet The issue here is that he is not merely describing the facts but actually labelling them as "better". Like I said to another guy before: in the middle ages such a study could have been done and they could also have said: "hey, we are doing much better than in stone age inspite of all our perversity!!" And you might be pleased by the percetanges while thousands of people are still dying because of violence, but the fact is we still suck when it comes about peace.
@jrvillela I reiterate again: "The argument he is making is that things have gotten better; He doesn't argue that therefore we should stop improving."
It's as he said, we should look into what we are doing right in addition to what we are doing wrong. With this we have clearer picture of reality and can therefore use more effective methods to improve it further.
@Scientisticsoviet It's like answering a test where you just get 40% right and you say, well, I did much better than yesterday when I got just 10% right. Is that true? Well, yes, but... SO WHAT?!! YOU DIDN'T PASS THE TEST!! The repulsive thing here is not his analysis but his optimism regarding the relative numbers: why don't we better try "to measure" absolute suffering caused nowdays by wars all over the world? Ah, because then is really no reason to feel "optimistic"!!
You can then see what methods are responsible for this improvement and what methods hindered further improvement. The optimism comes from the fact that improvement is possible, as demonstrated by historical evidence (in this case).
Nearly all world-changing technology that emerged in the past 60 years can trace their origin to a USMIL or DARPA or another Military project. The microchip, the internet, GPS navigation, satellite communications, etc. War is full of opportunities and is the biggest incentive for technological development.
The Jivaro and the Yanomamo are not hunter-gatherers. Their life-style is based on horticulture. While the rest of his argument may be right, Pinker completely distorts the truth here. Anthropologists agree in saying that true hunter-gatherer societes (like the San, for example) are (or were) the most peaceful human societes known. By the way, Jivaro and Yanomamo are famous for being especially violent groups. Our Paleolithic ancestors were without doubt much more peaceful than we are.
The view of matriarchy as constituting a stage of cultural development now is generally discredited. Furthermore, the consensus among modern anthropologists and sociologists is that a strictly matriarchal society never existed." 'Matriarchy', Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007
@WarmongerWW3 i tend to agree, as when it comes down to it, 'matriarchy' is sort of contradictory .. like that term "military intelligence" which there has been many jokes about. We shouldn't assume most females would be driven toward control in the way males are. In my oroginal comment, i was probably thinking more of orgiastic societies which McKenna described, which may have been found some 8,000 b.c.
I stopped listening when this clown said at 2:04 he said - "Today, we are probably living in the most peaceful time in our species existence." What an utter load of complete bullshit.
@dink65 - Actually, it's prudent use of time. When something is utter bullshit, you engage your critical thinking and are then CRITICAL of the faulty "thinking" of someone spewing nonsense.
Do you research on this clown and stop towing the line of BS and simply open your eyes to reality.
@dink65 So, I guess it's logical to utterly reject any idea or claim before taking any of the evidence into consideration. How trite. How completely and utterly trite. As it stands I can mock you and call you a stupid fuckwad, because not only have you said you haven't viewed the entire video, you lack any evidence to justify calling his statement and stance bullshit. I await your in coherent rebuttal and will do my best to humor you.
El peor discurso que he visto y oido. Cuanto le pagarian a Mr. Pinker los vendedores de armas, para decir que la violencia viene bajando. En la vida pueden haber errores, pero no mentiras o peor aun verdades a medias.... Ahora somos mas sutiles con nuestros modos de violencia...este discurso ha puesto al Sr. Steven en su nivel más bajo.
@Maheli1958 - Estás en lo cierto este discurso es una abominación. El hombre es un pelele de pago que es en realidad un asesino criminal ayudar a mejorar su globalidad y de la esclavitud de las masas para servir a la banca de elite criminal y las drogas (los mismos) cartel.
i think he was addressing the romanticism of pre westernization. he started stating how people think the native was much more at peace than we are. also to the point of Hobbs natural state, at the end he is just saying westernization and order reduce violence, nothing more nothing less
@TwelveBells Faith- Belief that is not based on proof.
Intelligence- Capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding.
We use proof as our basis for intellectual structuring, consequently we do not place our intelligence at the mercy of our superficial preferences. Lest we did, our society would be in shambles! Haha! I bluff, there are many superficial buffoons, such as yourself, that place their wit on such petty standards. Shallow minded fool.
@ThePompousBitch Ignorant atheist. You are a primitive and less intelligente form of homosapiens. To think that everything in the history of the universe and it's entire life and guests you assume that everything is withing your five senses and on your plane of reality. You are a human, therefor you cannot view the same plane of reality as God can. Faith is not belief that isn't based on proof, faith is belief without a need for proof. I don't need proof God exists, because I know he does.
@animedude00spec You the idiotic theist, the one clinging to misguided fairy tales dare call me primitive? That's a laugh. I implore you, please, educate yourself and then respond with a comment worth reading. Not your deluded incoherent babbling about superstitions. People like you are simply pathetic. You can't take on reality and seek some kind of profound enlightenment from obsolete doctrines. Disgraceful.
@ThePompousBitch Disgraceful you say? Right, because Atheist have morals and souls. Yeah, don't think so pal. A fairy tale is fiction, God is real and existant. I am more educated than you ever will be. My "incoherent" message, is the greatest amount of intelligence you will ever view in your pathetic short-lived immoral life of druf-dealing and raping. When you go to hell, you will relize your mistakes and beg for forgivness. You created atheism out of guilt for sinning. God will smite you.
@animedude00spec Haha this is rich, you're one of those brainwashed theists that believes you need a magical sky daddy to get your morals. I'm done here, you're clearly an imbecile.
@ThePompousBitch Brainwashed. I prefer enlightened. You require proof because you are a perfectionist with trust issues. You are brainwashed by the propoganda of whatever you see, because you only believe your five senses.
The number of casualties of war is always a very questionable estimate due to methodological and political reasons. But suppose it's totally true. That's terrible. Warmongers like me will need to work more to save the planet from the pacifist threat.
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so this fast talking jew is telling us that everything today is fine and we should trust the big governments whatever they tell us. I tell you what, only in 21st century can a jewish only entity drop white phosphorus on unarmed populations and get away with it
why would some commentors want to believe that violence is growing or that humanity is becoming more violent.
Pinker isn't saying we aren't violent. He merely has spent a great deal of time to study the subject and is providing his findings.
His conclusions seem extremely convincing to me. I know in my 48 years, I've lived around the world and only feared my life was going to be taken by another man a few times. anecdotal I know.
i guess this doesn't fit apocalyptic fantasy though
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@interstellarwonder
In closing. I'll leave you a final thought: "The problem with everyone looking in the same one direction is that no one makes use of the opportunity to see what is going on around them, leaving them to remain locked in the same one place."
Best of luck to you in your future endeavors
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Qteri1 4 hours ago
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Qteri1 4 hours ago
@interstellarwonder You are but a product of the people around you. That transcends people of every "colour". We all come into this world without any preconceived ideas or notions. (Like a hatred for "white people")
Hopefully one day you will recognize how unbelievably hypocritical and controlled you've been and understand what it is to be a critical thinker, and through that embrace the concept of what it is to be independant when it comes to your own mind and opinions.
Qteri1 4 hours ago
@interstellarwonder You're part of the very group mentality you claim to oppose and seek to "destroy". I checked out your profile, and both in your profile description, videos and channel comments you show your discontent for "white people" in disgusting ways and spew out what is quite simply some of the most ignominious crap I've ever read.
Qteri1 4 hours ago
If you don't believe it, do your own research and post it as a video response. It's easy as that. He did his research. Now do yours.
brennj12 2 days ago
Statistics can be used in both way for positive and negative. We are not living in a peaceful time, and people are not peaceful. People get into arguments everyday, fights happen, car wrecks, depressions, suicide, crime, jail, confusion. There is no placidity that anyone possesses. The reason why mankind is not yet extinct is ironically because of the terror of mutually assured destructed at the hands of our own inventions. That's the only thing keeping us alive not love and not understanding.
Josephjoel3 2 days ago
Why are their so many people here romanticizing the past (keep in mind that such behavior is a characteristic of fascism and statism)? Furthermore, why does one particular individual use antisemetic diatribe against Pinker?
AladerPoop78 5 days ago
This has been flagged as spam show
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The word "gay" helps homosexual activists push their agenda.
lightandbeautiful 1 week ago
In the opening quote about Native Americans, he claims that there was no know substance abuse among Native Americans. Has the author of the quote ever heard of peace pipes? They had drugs; they just didn't place the same taboos on them like we do in modern American society.
IseeRightThrough2you 1 week ago
@IseeRightThrough2you unless your a proffessor on the subject of native issues ,i suggest you keep your opinions to yourself. This is my point, ppl with white skin thinkiing it's okay to talk freely about other cultures and ppls.this is how ignorance and stereotyping starts then wars happens. & Billion humans.... lotsa wars & death to come
interstellarwonder 1 week ago
@interstellarwonder 7 billion ppl .. lotsa ppl ...lotsa wars to come
interstellarwonder 1 week ago
@interstellarwonder If you can't differentiate between YOUR and YOU'RE... YOU should shut YOUR fucking mouth.
Qteri1 1 day ago
@Qteri1 you just made my point, so my argument stands. so SYFM!
interstellarwonder 7 hours ago
@interstellarwonder What point? I didn't bother to read your argument with that other user. You made a reply to him stating the following: "unless your a proffessor on the subject of native issues ,i suggest you keep your opinions to yourself." That argument is not only fallacious but self defeating. Does one have to burn his eyes out with a blowtorch to know that it will hurt? No. Does one have to go through driving school to learn how to drive? No.
Qteri1 5 hours ago
@Qteri1 the point i made about ppl being violent ...always ,the opposite of what the speaker is tapping bullshit about. you not only read what someone else commented you actually read someone else's response! driving school does help, if you don't understand that i suggest getting some adult-ed.
interstellarwonder 4 hours ago
@interstellarwonder Yapping bullshit about
interstellarwonder 4 hours ago
@interstellarwonder don't know why you reposted an old comment
interstellarwonder 4 hours ago
@Qteri1 You're suggesting that the validity of a statement is rendered solely based on an individuals degree. That's moronic. In the case of cultural understanding, heritage and developmental factors, a degree isn't necessary to gather and/or obtain knowledge on any one or all of those subjects.
Qteri1 4 hours ago
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@Qteri1 In addition to that you mentioned:"This is my point, ppl with white skin thinkiing it's okay to talk freely about other cultures and ppls.this is how ignorance and stereotyping starts then wars happens."
This part of your statement is entirely contradictory. You're stereotyping yourself by saying all "white people" partake in X.
Qteri1 4 hours ago
According to the book "Death by Government" about 262,000,000 people were killed by governments in the 20th century. Read the history of Iceland or the book "The not so wild, wild West" to see how anarchist societies are much more peaceful.
AnarchoRichard 2 weeks ago
"we are living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence." WHAT A LOAD OF BULLSHIT!
interstellarwonder 2 weeks ago
@interstellarwonder did you watch the video?
Reelin111 2 weeks ago 4
@Reelin111 no need, there are more ppl on the earth now than at any time in man's existance.Look at what wars have done, yet ppl of the world still haven't learned shit! Look at America, it needed to get into WW2 to get out of an economic rut.
interstellarwonder 2 weeks ago
@interstellarwonder exactly there are more people on earth now thats why thers less violence the ratio goes down
thebestanthe3rd 1 week ago
I wish you all a great new year.And let's hope they attack Iran in 2012.
WarmongerWW3 4 weeks ago
violence has declined since biblical times? what about world war 1, 2, korea, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan? harvard university, jew minister of propaganda, steven pinker
MrUsingDrugs 1 month ago
@MrUsingDrugs Sigh, he talks about those things...
Da joooos... stop using drugs..
Hirnlego999 1 month ago
@MrUsingDrugs He's saying that violent death has declined as a percentage of the population, of course more as a number die now but that is because the population now is very much larger than in biblical times.
rich0292 3 weeks ago
For an alternative view of pre-agricultural human behavior google "Sex at Dawn pdf". Go to Chapter thirteen and find "Professor Pinker, Red in Tooth and Claw" for a break down of this very lecture. The entire book is an amazing read. Highly recommend it.
efortune357 1 month ago
@efortune357 I'm reading Sex at Dawn right now and just finished that chapter. Very highly recommended read.
JeffreyRodriguez 1 month ago
@efortune357 Thanks, it is interesting, maybe the nominaly 'Hunter gatherer' societys Pinker chose arn't representative of our pre-history.
rich0292 3 weeks ago
A presentation like this really puts things in perspective.
gerardrbain1972 1 month ago
Is Steven Pinker gay? If so I'd turn gay for him!
PktMma 1 month ago
Wow, he seemed to be really nervous.
gamenorus 1 month ago
@gamenorus Human domination over this planet is very concerning, over population and any growth in poverty has a great deal to do with any and alll terrorism at home and abroad and lending within the proliferation of the earth and its resources which will only get worse if we dont all start working together, so whats all this 2012 all about anyway but all predictible when one knows what what knows within any intrinsic anthropology; Whats the Occupy Anything all about: Greed?
DrFruedienslip 1 month ago
His presentation is somewhat vague. We have a much larger population than ever before. While violence as a percentage is surely down is it down in total amounts?
In other words if in the year 1 AD there was around 200 mill people in the word. if 50 million died by violence in a time frame that would be 25 percent. If 100 million died by violence in the current era it would be more in total numbers but much lower in percentage.
madelefant05 2 months ago
@madelefant05 He speaks in terms of deaths per 100,000 people - so percentages. Which makes sense, because total numbers of all things would be expected to go up with a 30 fold increase in population, so talking about total number of deaths wouldn't be very informative (for instance, saying X number of people died in Detroit is less informative than saying the average person has X chance of being killed in Detroit).
dogen83 2 months ago
@madelefant05 I would suggest you read his book new book, the better angels of our nature. He does break it down for us mere humans.... as a side note being from a developing country I did a little research and yes violence is going down not as fast and marked as the developed world but indeed we are getting better at being humans....try to picture the carnage it could have been if PETA made a sit down outside the coliseum back in roman empire times.
intestinomedicino 2 months ago
@intestinomedicino I was wondering how much the rise of modern medicine has lowered that death rate by violence. The time frame that he gives as a major drop off is also the point at which we start to effective medical techniques to treat illness and injury. Also thinking of his mention of the change from hunter gatherer to agricultural/manufacturing brings to mind the modern technique of denial of resources. How many Ukrainians died in a politically created famine?
madelefant05 2 months ago
@madelefant05 Yes but we have to remember that when it comes to health offer and demand, one can only give the former until the amount of people getting sick surpasses the infrastructure capabilities then, we are by definition in a state of emergency, I mention that because the destructive power of our current weapons could easily turn any conflict just imagine Caligula and not Hitler with that kind of power. My point is yes we are better at healing ourselves but also at killing us.
intestinomedicino 2 months ago
is he right?
MrPEDOCTOR 2 months ago
What a way to start a presentation
btmummert 2 months ago
Francis Bacon and Judy Garland. I didn't check. My guess.
shatner99 2 months ago
The basic flaw in Pinker's analysis is twofold. 1st, because ancient or primordial man was situated in small communal villages, clan or pack settings, the evidence for their history is quite sparse (we have not, and more than likely will never gather all of the data). 2nd, due to technological advances due to the market, as well as dramatic increases of population due to the same, a smaller portion of humans are required to engage in warfare successfully. Pinker should stick to linguistics.
synestheticmonotony 2 months ago
@synestheticmonotony considering the murder rates that we know about, then I guess that means it would be even higher, damn you stephen for being modest!
noobler9 2 months ago
@synestheticmonotony there are small village size hunter/gatherer communities today, these are our best source of this culture that we have, as he explained. Is this not good enough for knowing the culture of ancient human culture?
You second claim kinda proves his point, we have become less violent because technology has advanced to allow us to achieve the same goals with less violence. Culture earlier in human history was mroe violent because of lack of technological advances.
dilated1990 2 months ago
@dilated1990 And let us not forget that a society that achieves a certain level of socioeconomic maturity which allows such technological advances would have to be, at the some basic level, non-violent. It is difficulty to have science, trade, and, well, innovation at all levels if your neighbouring competitors were encouraged (by sociocultural influences, i.e., "common practice") to compete by killing, raping, stealing your patents, or burning your place of business to the ground.
BuBBaGump014 3 weeks ago
where goods don't cross borders, armies do. -Friedrich Bastiat.
In a world of protectionism and trade restrictions, everyone is at war with everyone else. Rather than vesting their interests in the well-being of others because of their abilities to benefit them, they see everyone as an impediment and an obstacle who is competing over the same resources and without division of labor.
intercourseman69 2 months ago
Does anyone else find it ironic that the promoted video in the column to the side is Battlefield 3? Or is that only showing for me because of my view history?
iwiwla22 2 months ago
@captzdc you idiot religious person
FIGHTFANNERD3 2 months ago
It is important to note that as a nation becomes more educated and literate, they lose religiosity. We see this in Europe. And I am only talking about the loss of religiosity due to free will and scientific literacy - not force as was seen in communist nations in which they simply borrowed from their religious predecessors in oppressing societies. It is no surprise that the vast majority of scientists are atheists and non-believers.
TheSasss1 2 months ago
I would think that wealth has contributed more to the drop of violence over the centuries more than anything, at least at the personal level. Well fed and sheltered people have no reason to be violent and that is probably why there is less violence in the developed world than in the 3rd world. Nukes have kept modern industrial nations from engaging in war due to the threat of being annihilated.
christo930 3 months ago
I dispute his decade data, he claims that the 1950's had a 65k deaths per conflict per year to less than 2k per year per conflict, but the Iraq war lasted 7 years and has resulted in about a million dead Iraqis which is about 130k per year. He must be taking every single conflict and averaging them out, including states that are at war with very little activity (like the US N. Korean war which is still on, but with a cease-fire)
christo930 3 months ago
This is complete horseshit. Pinker like most liberal God haters, would love to blame genetics for every evil out ther, but what he will never do is admit that human nature is impossible to predict. If it were, every abused child would grow up to abuse children. Every Phsycopath would raise Phsycopathic children.
Fucking eggheads will correlate anything to deny the obvious-That they don't have a fucking clue what conciousness is or where the fuck it came from.
Anything but God-rotflmao
commonsensrules 3 months ago
@commonsensrules you think 'god' is the directly decided there should be conciousness?
TheStfu1000 3 months ago
@TheStfu1000
"you think 'god' is the directly decided there should be conciousness?" Conciousness is a phenomenon that defies evolution. There have been no realistic explinations that adequately explain how it came about or the mechnaism by which it is formed. I do not adhere to the idea that physical material can somehow produce conciousness.
The fact that each of us is uniquely aware and we all have a different perception of reality denotes design. Ofcourse that is my opinion.
commonsensrules 3 months ago
@TheStfu1000
To add...
If you examine the seperation that is documented between mind and body, you begin to see that he mind clearly has control over the body to an extent that should not exist by rational standards.
Infact, The mind is so powerfull that one could realistically say that it is out of place in our bodies. The mind can be so strong that it can override every survival instinct supposedly put in place by evolution.
How else can you explain the actions of mankind?
commonsensrules 3 months ago
@commonsensrules there have been realistic explanations that explain how it is formed. human>ape>bush mammals. read 'a pilgrimage of life' by dawkins. evolution shows it is a gradual process. apes are clearly second smartest to humans so you can see that gradual process here today. 'any survival instinct' is part of the human brain... the brain is responsible for producing adrenalin hormones and stuff so it's not 'out of place compared to the body'. what do you mean how else can i explain?
TheStfu1000 3 months ago
Am I the only one being extremely annoyed by those people who keep coughing? Get a fucking bottle of water you assholes. How inconsiderate and rude.
Atztekleddlstaeder 3 months ago
Per capita he is right but in sheer numbers maybe not. in other words in the the world population in the year 2000 was 200 million. It is now 6 billion. The actual volume of violence might be higher even though the per capita rate much lower.
madelefant05 3 months ago
this guy talks from a highly eurcentric, highly upper class point of view...try growing up in South Africa and tell me that "violence has decreased over the years". The theory is BS.
Microglia1 3 months ago
@Microglia1 you clearly misunderstood his whole point, which was not that fewer people experience violence but that an ever decreasing percentage of people experience violence. The amount of people that experience violence increases because the world's population is increasing exponentially!
jondibond 3 months ago in playlist Fleiri vídeó frá TEDtalksDirector
@jondibond Ever heard of the theory of relativity? Violence is relative. From his point of view, which there is still very little evidence (I mean he cited one source of archeological evidence and the bible), it seems to be but from my point of view it's not. Violence is committed daily in Africa, where I'm from. Had he grew up with an abusive father, I'm sure his point of view will be different. That's why it takes only a few people with very privileged background to create stupid myths.
Microglia1 3 months ago
@Microglia1 it doesnt matter whether he delivered the point or some other person delivered it. the statistics still stand. it was the percentage of population has decreased in violence.
TheStfu1000 3 months ago
I've read in Spencer Wells' Pandora's Seed that blunt force trauma was the primary killer of early human ancestors; & that this was primarily from the hunt of big game animals. Perhaps Pinker has conflated this statistic or did Wells hide information? Now I'm confused.
brettygood 3 months ago
Pinker is awesome, a truly brilliant guy.
hurley3kgt 3 months ago
Good shit
heyandy889 4 months ago
I find that bible verse he describes interesting, it seems a lot like how Lions behave, I guess its just a reminder that in the end we are still animals.
Biankito 4 months ago
secularists are the leaders in murder ae911truthDOTorg
oh and do we have a interest-based economy or interest-free? since i want the latter but we have the former, its not a democracy is it?
dxvxvx 4 months ago
He can't make a claim about humans by talking mainly about post-agricultural statistics. That only covers about 10% of our history as humans and may, at most, tell us something about how modern culture has influenced our morality . He cites violence among modern "nomadic" and "hunter-gatherer" societies not representative of hunter-gatherer societies but influenced by outside cultures and modern times and his 7 cited societies are from 3 regions. Find more evidence for your bold claims, Pinker.
1010happygolucky 4 months ago
@1010happygolucky Actually, the New Guinean people he referenced are among those understood in the "outside" world to be among the least influenced by that outside world. I can't say much about South America except that there are certainly people living traditional tribal lives in the Amazon. True hunter gatherer societies are few and far between these days, so a modern researcher must work with what he has. Also, he didn't say anything about them being nomadic.
shiftyjake 3 months ago
@captzdc I live in Montreal, I never said it was in the U.S. I don't know where you got that. Also, you misunderstand the difference between empathy and sympathy. I know what the difference is and I chose the right one. You disregarded my message and went after my perceived mistake. Why should a man who has never met any of the people who were at Dawson at the time, a man who is seemingly intelligent enough not to have some silly loyalty to a building, have to feel sympathy?
slipknot9023 4 months ago
@captzdc What does him not sending anything to the DeSousa family have to do with anything? He graduated from Dawson in 1971, more than 30 years before the shooting. Do you think those condolences would have meant anything to the family? Such a superficial act of empathy? Do you think it would have made the family feel better? Do you equally look down upon on all the other graduates before and after who haven't sent anything? I am currently a Dawson student, small world lol.
slipknot9023 4 months ago
@captzdc Provide the appropriate evidence that the tribes are exceptional then.
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
he has clearly not lived with violence. i am not interested in his "struggle to understand reality". i just want 20min of my life back.
rothkoaintdead 4 months ago
I'm a Muslim, I assume he's taking verses from the Christian Bible to show how violent it is......BUT since we live in a secular society why doesn't he bring in modern wars for oil and secular wars of aggression? for some balance you know!
dxvxvx 4 months ago 2
@dxvxvx Because humans are inherently violent, but religious humans are historically much more violent. Secularism is the step up from religion, there is nothing above secularism. Secularism is the base state at which humans are violent. Also, many of those secular acts of aggression today stem from the very long tradition of religious people feeling superior to those of different beliefs.
slipknot9023 4 months ago
@slipknot9023 You are a victim of the Nazi education system
wwwDOT1001inventionsDOTcom/media/video/library
And
ae911truthDOTorg
Peace
dxvxvx 4 months ago
@dxvxvx Lol, of course I am. I disagree with your statements and I am automatically branded as one thing or another. YOU ARE A MUSLIM GO SLEEP WITH YOUR 7 WIVES. See how that works? Probably not. You stoop to the ad hominem fallacy, while I presented supported facts, you accuse me of not being like you. Maybe you need some of the Nazi education yourself. And to end this succinctly, you ain't nothin but a thang.
slipknot9023 4 months ago
@slipknot9023 I hate it when people rely on stereotypes like that. Islam does NOT permit a man to have seven wives. The limit is four.
acr08807 3 months ago
@acr08807 It depends on the type of Islam. Among Shiite, you can have 7-permanent wives and basically any number of temporary wives ranging in marriage from mere hours to whatever specified time - basically, a religiously sanctioned form of prostitution.
TheSasss1 2 months ago
@TheSasss1 Thanks, I didn't know that. Maybe I should become a Shiite....
acr08807 2 months ago
@dxvxvx If you believe that wars are fought solely for resources, then you, sir, are a fucking idiot. Secularists have a long way to catch up to the Muslims, Jews, Hindus, or Christians of the world.
BeyondRelativity 4 months ago
@dxvxvx Don't get me started on Islam
outlaw87100 4 months ago
@dxvxvx He most likely uses the christian bible because it is almost certain that there are a significant number of people that understand, if not believe in, the bible in his audience. Additionally, the bible was used to illustrate ancient violence and modern oil wars are not ancient.
Viperzka 4 months ago
@dxvxvx At that point, he was using the Bible as a historical document to show the violence of the tribes that created it. Their religion and their reasons to go to war are irrelevant, the point was that war was waged, and the horridness of those wars in the eyes of today's humans.
SethWreckLollis 3 months ago 2
@dxvxvx which wars?
45means45 3 months ago
@45means45 the war on it's on people ae911truth.or g
dxvxvx 3 months ago
@dxvxvx yah.... i dont think many "secular" wars have had the ammount of deaths religion has wrought us. ESPECIALLY your religion
NUGNESS123 3 months ago
This guy is nuts, modern conflicts take FAR more lives then ancient battles. Of course there are more people on earth now then before so it is obvious that he is seeing people as statistics instead of individuals. How many lives did WW2 take, hundreds of millions?? That is unprecendented in history.
WorshipInTruth 4 months ago
@WorshipInTruth The point is that the probability of death by homicide was higher in the pre-industrial era; Which quite shocking, given that disease and famine were also more prevalent. So although human conflict in modern history has taken more lives in absolute number, this is more a by-product of population growth and more deadlier military technology then more homicidal tendencies.
Aside total deaths due to the second world war is around 63 million (uncertain if it includes the holocaust).
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@Scientisticsoviet 63 million is just a guess, it is a very liberal number if you ask me, I think the actual number is much closer to 150 million. Remember, even in much smaller modern wars which are only taking place in one nation it is hard to keep track. The numbers get so eschewed and confused. For example, they dont know whether it was 1 million or 12 million killed during the holodomor. Not to mention that WW1 which happened right before WW2 took at least 15 million lives itself.
WorshipInTruth 4 months ago
@WorshipInTruth First small note: You mean a conservative estimate (liberal ones being defined as very high).
Second, the death toll is estimated between 60 an 80 million (more than which would be extremely problematic given demographic data).
Third, if I remember correctly, serious analysis using archival data on the 1930s famine in the USSR gives a maximum of about 5 million deaths (and a minimum of around 3). I cite the recently published book by Wheatcroft for that figure.
(cont.)
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
(cont.) Fourth, and MOST importantly, your claim was made with regards to the death toll in world war 2, not all wars in the first half of the 20th century.
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@WorshipInTruth Yes there was severe loss of life in ww2. 20-25 million for Russia alone but the point he is making is that society itself is much less violent. How many cats burned downtown today for entertainment? Orphans beaten for trying to steal food (to death)? I'm thinking the total brutality we had caused more deaths over time. Empathy. You are a person too is the reason. Think of the unchecked murder, rape, torture, incest (a known generational violence that just continues on)
437thx1138 4 months ago
true that direct physical violence has declined. duels, hand to hand combat. however technology enables people to do devastating, fatal harm to others clandestinely from a distance. personally I'll take a fist fight over being fucked with from a distance with biological, chemical, electromagnetic/psychotronic weapons. people are all pussy now, hide in the shadows and shoot you with electromagnetic beams, just as violent/evil as ever, manifests in less obvious forms because of the legal system.
pistraurder 4 months ago
He only focuses his research on the western history and make a conclusion as if the entire world has same thinking.
I think this is the most frequent mistakes made by western researches, they don't consider world' multiethnicity and so this conclusion will not be applicable in other culture like the Chinese history or the Indian history.
rochelimit55555 5 months ago
@rochelimit55555 He does include statistic about global trends and he is also referring to cultures beyond the West.
timeofwonder2009 5 months ago
@timeofwonder2009 he did, but extremely brief and was not taken into account into the conclusion.
rochelimit55555 5 months ago
@rochelimit55555 O.k., point taken. The recent globla trends seem be on par with his claim (for instance Wikipedia's List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate), but I agree that more (long-time) statistical material would be needed before making solid global claims. He is working on a book about the same topic, so let's see whether there will be more to scavange from in that.
timeofwonder2009 5 months ago
@rochelimit55555 Reduction of violence starts from understanding the meaning of life. The West doesn't spend much time doing that. Their conclusions are always short-sighted because of this
crudhousefull 3 months ago
most western researchers are far better and more neutral in their point of view than those in the east. He's doing his research greatly, I just hope that he improved because he is talking on behalve of the Human, which is complex. He really should look on world history and not just the west.
rochelimit55555 3 months ago
85 people believe the 'times are getting worse'.
HybridD91 5 months ago
I saw Steven Pinker's lecture at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, in which he talked about the use of language in deception. He was very funny, engrossing, and probably the best public intellectual I have seen live. (I have to admit, however, that I haven't seen many other leading authorities in person.)
writersblock26 5 months ago
Thank you for posting this, TEDtalksDirector.
writersblock26 5 months ago
as our ability to comprehend and depth of compassion grows, violence should naturally decline. along with that, letting go of organized religion will certainly add to those declining violence statistics.
cybrmaus 5 months ago
Personally I don't care about what those percentages say: a human life is a human life, and if you take the ABSOLUTE NOT THE RELATIVE NUMBERS of people that have died due to war since the past century the numbers surpass by far the number of lives lost due to war since humans appeared!! We are "living the most peaceful time in our species existence" AND YET WE ARE LOSING MORE LIVES THAN EVER DUE TO WARS!!
jrvillela 6 months ago
Comment removed
jrvillela 6 months ago
@jrvillela
I guess people should just just stop having children, then? Less people to kill.
freakyfadge 6 months ago
@freakyfadge Well, there are already almost 7,000,000,000 ppl alive. Even if ppl stop having children, there would be still plenty to kill compared to the approximately 25,000,000 ppl living all over the world 6,000 years ago. :P
jrvillela 6 months ago
@jrvillela Absolute numbers can mislead though. If you have a population of 10 and 5 of them die in a war, then 50% of your society has died from violence. Whereas in a population of 1 million people, if 10 die in a war, that’s double, but it’s still only 0.001%. You’re right that every life is precious, but if you have a growing populace with a shrinking rate of violent deaths, I’d say it's an improvement and it indicates a more peaceful society overall.
drgrey87 5 months ago
@drgrey87 So what? Should we feel "happy" cuz we live in a society which is "more peaceful overall" when still thousands of ppl die due to violence every year and after goverments as the U.S. are still spending billions of dollars in the military and wasting tons of valuable resources in weapons instead of using that wealth to reduce the gap between rich and poor? It's very easy to say: "we are living in more peaceful times" when one has not been a vicitim of, for example, the Irak war!
jrvillela 5 months ago
@jrvillela We are living in the most peaceful time and the Iraq war is clean and effective.
WarmongerWW3 5 months ago
@WarmongerWW3 Yah, as clean as your asshole!
jrvillela 5 months ago
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@jrvillela My stock options rose sharply in 2005 because of the Iraq War. Clean and effective.
WarmongerWW3 5 months ago
@jrvillela Although indeed we still do have violence, if the homicide rate was as it were in the middle ages we have far far more deaths from violent action.
The argument he is making is that things have gotten better; He doesn't argue that therefore we should stop improvement. Indeed, by deluding ourselves into thinking no progress has been made, we restrict further progress as analysis from which we draw conclusion & policy considerations will be quite skewed.
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@drgrey87 He could also have stood in the middle ages and say: "hey, we are living in more peaceful times than ever inspite of all our perversity!!" making again no sense whatsoever.
And the cheap apology he makes for the State is really disgusting: as if it would be a sine qua non condition to live in peace!! What we need is to extend the use of reason and to develop our empathic emotions NOT A STATE!!
jrvillela 5 months ago
@jrvillela If I am not mistaken, the middle ages were more violent then antiquity. But that aside, as I said in my other post, he does not advocate no further improvement.
And I don't think he means to say that a state is sine qua non condition for peace, but rather, that having strong and consistent states makes it much easier to do (for the reasons he posits in the video).
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@jrvillela So above all, red herring on your part.
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@Scientisticsoviet Quite on the contrary: the core issue here is that regardless of what the relative rate of violence shows, more PEOPLE than ever in history are dying due to violence!! This guy speaks in a way that reminds me of Stalin's assertion: "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic" -seeing human lives just as a "statistic". I wonder if he would continue talking with such "optimism" regarding violence if one of his kids would be a victim of, for example, Mexico's Drug War.
jrvillela 4 months ago
@jrvillela You are still falling into red herring. I reiterate: "The argument he is making is that things have gotten better; He doesn't argue that therefore we should stop improving."
And again, how many more people would have died if the homicide rate had remained static yet we had today's population?
Aside, there is nothing abhorrent about using statistics. If they are accurate, they reflect reality. Such statistics help us understand concrete realities, form models and (cont.)
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@jrvillela (cont.) ultimately, try to find ways to change them. Indeed statistical analysis is essential to scientific hypothesis testing.
(Small aside, that quote is actually miss attributed to Koba; Wikipedia should have a compact article on it).
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@Scientisticsoviet The issue here is that he is not merely describing the facts but actually labelling them as "better". Like I said to another guy before: in the middle ages such a study could have been done and they could also have said: "hey, we are doing much better than in stone age inspite of all our perversity!!" And you might be pleased by the percetanges while thousands of people are still dying because of violence, but the fact is we still suck when it comes about peace.
jrvillela 4 months ago
@jrvillela I reiterate again: "The argument he is making is that things have gotten better; He doesn't argue that therefore we should stop improving."
It's as he said, we should look into what we are doing right in addition to what we are doing wrong. With this we have clearer picture of reality and can therefore use more effective methods to improve it further.
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@Scientisticsoviet It's like answering a test where you just get 40% right and you say, well, I did much better than yesterday when I got just 10% right. Is that true? Well, yes, but... SO WHAT?!! YOU DIDN'T PASS THE TEST!! The repulsive thing here is not his analysis but his optimism regarding the relative numbers: why don't we better try "to measure" absolute suffering caused nowdays by wars all over the world? Ah, because then is really no reason to feel "optimistic"!!
jrvillela 4 months ago
@jrvillela "SO WHAT?"
You can then see what methods are responsible for this improvement and what methods hindered further improvement. The optimism comes from the fact that improvement is possible, as demonstrated by historical evidence (in this case).
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@jrvillela you idiot
FIGHTFANNERD3 2 months ago
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jrvillela 6 months ago
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jrvillela 6 months ago
Nearly all world-changing technology that emerged in the past 60 years can trace their origin to a USMIL or DARPA or another Military project. The microchip, the internet, GPS navigation, satellite communications, etc. War is full of opportunities and is the biggest incentive for technological development.
WarmongerWW3 6 months ago
adds is exploitation and should bee looked at as a crime
archie977 6 months ago in playlist Politics
Why the big spike of violence in the 70s and 80s ?
ratm2112 6 months ago
The Jivaro and the Yanomamo are not hunter-gatherers. Their life-style is based on horticulture. While the rest of his argument may be right, Pinker completely distorts the truth here. Anthropologists agree in saying that true hunter-gatherer societes (like the San, for example) are (or were) the most peaceful human societes known. By the way, Jivaro and Yanomamo are famous for being especially violent groups. Our Paleolithic ancestors were without doubt much more peaceful than we are.
adurgina 6 months ago
actually humans were probably more peaceful than ever during an early matriarchal culture
DajuNkdnA 6 months ago in playlist Mentation
@DajuNkdnA What 'early matriarchal culture'?
The view of matriarchy as constituting a stage of cultural development now is generally discredited. Furthermore, the consensus among modern anthropologists and sociologists is that a strictly matriarchal society never existed." 'Matriarchy', Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007
WarmongerWW3 6 months ago
@WarmongerWW3 i tend to agree, as when it comes down to it, 'matriarchy' is sort of contradictory .. like that term "military intelligence" which there has been many jokes about. We shouldn't assume most females would be driven toward control in the way males are. In my oroginal comment, i was probably thinking more of orgiastic societies which McKenna described, which may have been found some 8,000 b.c.
DajuNkdnA 6 months ago
yeah but in that chart he is showing the number of Americans died in wars ....
what about other non-american humans who died maybe fighting those in the chart
( Iraqis = 100,000 Vietnamese = 3,000,000 ......................etc )
mideastatheist 6 months ago
@mideastatheist It's like they say, there are three kinds of lies during a war: lies, damned lies, and statistics :)
WarmongerWW3 6 months ago
This is such a total load of garbage that someone should "BUST A CAP IN HIS ASS" just to prove the point. LMAO!
0AboutTime 7 months ago
I stopped listening when this clown said at 2:04 he said - "Today, we are probably living in the most peaceful time in our species existence." What an utter load of complete bullshit.
dink65 7 months ago
@dink65 So, you reject his thesis without listening to any of the evidence he presents. That definitely reeks of lack of critical thinking.
XxRadicalOnexX 6 months ago
@dink65 - Actually, it's prudent use of time. When something is utter bullshit, you engage your critical thinking and are then CRITICAL of the faulty "thinking" of someone spewing nonsense.
Do you research on this clown and stop towing the line of BS and simply open your eyes to reality.
dink65 6 months ago
@dink65 So, I guess it's logical to utterly reject any idea or claim before taking any of the evidence into consideration. How trite. How completely and utterly trite. As it stands I can mock you and call you a stupid fuckwad, because not only have you said you haven't viewed the entire video, you lack any evidence to justify calling his statement and stance bullshit. I await your in coherent rebuttal and will do my best to humor you.
XxRadicalOnexX 6 months ago
El peor discurso que he visto y oido. Cuanto le pagarian a Mr. Pinker los vendedores de armas, para decir que la violencia viene bajando. En la vida pueden haber errores, pero no mentiras o peor aun verdades a medias.... Ahora somos mas sutiles con nuestros modos de violencia...este discurso ha puesto al Sr. Steven en su nivel más bajo.
Maheli1958 7 months ago
@Maheli1958 - Estás en lo cierto este discurso es una abominación. El hombre es un pelele de pago que es en realidad un asesino criminal ayudar a mejorar su globalidad y de la esclavitud de las masas para servir a la banca de elite criminal y las drogas (los mismos) cartel.
dink65 7 months ago
wow wonderful talk. it is very uplifting finally something good can be said of humanity. all you ever hear anymore is humanity;s downfalls.
violet101 7 months ago
I think the increase in homicide starting in the 1960`s had something to do with crack cocaine.
beyonddeadstudio 7 months ago
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i think he was addressing the romanticism of pre westernization. he started stating how people think the native was much more at peace than we are. also to the point of Hobbs natural state, at the end he is just saying westernization and order reduce violence, nothing more nothing less
deathlogic1 7 months ago
would recommend ted talk about blank slate from mr. pinker to!!!!!!!!!!!!
deathlogic1 7 months ago
and jonathan haidt
deathlogic1 7 months ago
He's nervous. I felt his pain in my 461 class...still...it's distracting.
emulare11 8 months ago
Sheesh you people really are a pessimistic bunch of crybabies!
lolwut111111111 8 months ago
All this shows is that too many humans are murderers. Not too much optimism here for civilization.
Barklord 8 months ago
wow. way to misrepresent anarchy. this is getting my a little angry.
OpakeArawra2 8 months ago
If only there were some way to exile all the nostalgic antiquarians to their chosen 'golden ages' and watch them try to survive...
lockwright 8 months ago
I can't place any intellectual faith in a man who has made the choice to wear his hair like that
TwelveBells 8 months ago
@TwelveBells Faith- Belief that is not based on proof.
Intelligence- Capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding.
We use proof as our basis for intellectual structuring, consequently we do not place our intelligence at the mercy of our superficial preferences. Lest we did, our society would be in shambles! Haha! I bluff, there are many superficial buffoons, such as yourself, that place their wit on such petty standards. Shallow minded fool.
ThePompousBitch 8 months ago
@ThePompousBitch no one really loves you do they?
TwelveBells 8 months ago
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@TwelveBells I rest my case you are most certainly an imbecile.
ThePompousBitch 8 months ago
@ThePompousBitch Ignorant atheist. You are a primitive and less intelligente form of homosapiens. To think that everything in the history of the universe and it's entire life and guests you assume that everything is withing your five senses and on your plane of reality. You are a human, therefor you cannot view the same plane of reality as God can. Faith is not belief that isn't based on proof, faith is belief without a need for proof. I don't need proof God exists, because I know he does.
animedude00spec 8 months ago
@animedude00spec You the idiotic theist, the one clinging to misguided fairy tales dare call me primitive? That's a laugh. I implore you, please, educate yourself and then respond with a comment worth reading. Not your deluded incoherent babbling about superstitions. People like you are simply pathetic. You can't take on reality and seek some kind of profound enlightenment from obsolete doctrines. Disgraceful.
ThePompousBitch 8 months ago
@ThePompousBitch Disgraceful you say? Right, because Atheist have morals and souls. Yeah, don't think so pal. A fairy tale is fiction, God is real and existant. I am more educated than you ever will be. My "incoherent" message, is the greatest amount of intelligence you will ever view in your pathetic short-lived immoral life of druf-dealing and raping. When you go to hell, you will relize your mistakes and beg for forgivness. You created atheism out of guilt for sinning. God will smite you.
animedude00spec 8 months ago
@animedude00spec Haha this is rich, you're one of those brainwashed theists that believes you need a magical sky daddy to get your morals. I'm done here, you're clearly an imbecile.
ThePompousBitch 8 months ago
@ThePompousBitch Brainwashed. I prefer enlightened. You require proof because you are a perfectionist with trust issues. You are brainwashed by the propoganda of whatever you see, because you only believe your five senses.
animedude00spec 8 months ago
@animedude00spec Belief without evidence is anti-scientific.
Scientisticsoviet 4 months ago
@animedude00spec , @ThePompousBitch: BOTH of you treat each other like crap. Are EITHER of you good specimens of peace? Think about it.
mike4ty4 3 weeks ago
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The number of casualties of war is always a very questionable estimate due to methodological and political reasons. But suppose it's totally true. That's terrible. Warmongers like me will need to work more to save the planet from the pacifist threat.
WarmongerWW3 8 months ago
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WarmongerWW3 8 months ago
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so this fast talking jew is telling us that everything today is fine and we should trust the big governments whatever they tell us. I tell you what, only in 21st century can a jewish only entity drop white phosphorus on unarmed populations and get away with it
gledalac1979 8 months ago
why would some commentors want to believe that violence is growing or that humanity is becoming more violent.
Pinker isn't saying we aren't violent. He merely has spent a great deal of time to study the subject and is providing his findings.
His conclusions seem extremely convincing to me. I know in my 48 years, I've lived around the world and only feared my life was going to be taken by another man a few times. anecdotal I know.
i guess this doesn't fit apocalyptic fantasy though
monkeyrocketsurgeon 8 months ago