The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined:
I tend to disagree with the view that violence is on the decline, because state-sponsored violence is on the rise, and slavery is at an all-time HIGH. Don’t get me wrong, though: while I can support his notion of “the better angels of our nature,” I still find Steven Pinker’s conclusions about violence trends questionable. In summary, his evidence is circumstantial, there are large gaps in his data, and he vastly oversimplifies the social, political and technological dynamics at work throughout human history in order to reach his hypothesis.
