Humans. Are They Getting Nicer?

enlightenment · 04-11-2007, 10:09 AM

Source:
http://www.statesma n.com/life/ content/life/ stories/other/ 03/21/21nice. html

Humans are getting nicer, magazine reports

New Republic has report on all the bad habits we've renounced.

By Peter Carlson
THE WASHINGTON POST
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Attention, fellow humans: The relaunched New Republic contains great news about our much-maligned species. Not only have we stopped burning cats as a form of humorous public entertainment (as we used to do in 16th-century France), but we're also killing, torturing and enslaving each other less often than we once did.

This jolly news comes from Steven Pinker, who is a Harvard professor and author. The title of his piece is "A History of Violence." The subtitle is "We're Getting Nicer Every Day."

"Today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species' time on Earth," he writes.

Pinker provides a list of the nasty pastimes we humans don't practice as much as we used to: "Cruelty as entertainment, human sacrifice to indulge superstition, slavery as a labor-saving device, conquest as the mission statement of government, genocide as a means of acquiring real estate, torture and mutilation as routine punishment . . . rape as the spoils of war, pogroms as outlets for frustration."

And so on. We humans still do this stuff, of course, but not as often, at least not on a per capita basis. And when we do these rotten things, we now have the common decency to feel bad enough to try to cover them up.

"In many ways," Pinker writes, "we have been getting kinder and gentler."

17th Angel · 04-11-2007, 10:13 AM

"Today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species' time on Earth," he writes.

My brother has just come back from Iraq... See if he agrees with that. Alternatively, ask my other brother who is still over there if he feels this is a real peaceful moment for our "species"... *shrugs* There will never be peace we are such a destructive virus it is unreal... I guess the moon is next for destruction once we have finished off this rock. People like this so stuck up their own assholes... Sat behind some desk writing that.. They do not even know the half of it... If you compare it to say one of the World wars.... It is less violent and so on... But it sure as £$!"$ ain't peaceful.

--Edit--
It may not be as bad as the hordes of Kahn, or the world wars, or the crusades or whatever... However, this is just calm before the storm.. It is in our nature to be violent, territorial, material, greedy and so on lol… There will be worse days than this.

enlightenment · 04-11-2007, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

"Today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species' time on Earth," he writes.

My brother has just come back from Iraq... See if he agrees with that. Alternatively, ask my other brother who is still over there if he feels this is a real peaceful moment for our "species"... *shrugs* There will never be peace we are such a destructive virus it is unreal... I guess the moon is next for destruction once we have finished off this rock. People like this so stuck up their own assholes... Sat behind some desk writing that.. They do not even know the half of it... If you compare it to say one of the World wars.... It is less violent and so on... But it sure as £$!"$ ain't peaceful.

--Edit--
It may not be as bad as the hordes of Kahn, or the world wars, or the crusades or whatever... However, this is just calm before the storm.. It is in our nature to be violent, territorial, material, greedy and so on lol… There will be worse days than this.

I would agree.

We kill millions of beings every day, and if the next day we kill a few less, we all start to pat each other on the back.

17th Angel · 04-11-2007, 10:37 AM

It is a shame... That we are like that as whole/majority... But that's, life.

enlightenment · 04-11-2007, 10:49 AM

We do, of course, have choice.

We can elect to change.

We just need the will.

wil · 04-11-2007, 01:54 PM

I believe there is much truth in that, despite Iraq, Afganistan, Darfor, Sudan, 9/11 and all the other events of the past 10 years...the death toll is a drop in the bucket compared to what it was. Prior to our country boundaries being established territory disputes were constant. The creation of the US is littered with death and blood...coast to coast...Same with Russia/USSR, that has ceased....50k+ American dead in Vietnam I don't know what the total toll was but truly since WW2 this world has essentially been at peace.

Yes I know those that are currently dying and those areas of conflict don't see it that way...but from an overall perspective...its true.

17th Angel · 04-11-2007, 02:02 PM

You're "one of those" that believe one day there will be no war and violence and such between mankind? As long as we live, we will kill each other and our surrounding planet... ;\ We are morons

wil · 04-11-2007, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

You're "one of those" that believe one day there will be no war and violence and such between mankind? As long as we live, we will kill each other and our surrounding planet... ;\ We are morons

Do I dream of such a utopia? Sure, do you have some interest in denying that dream?

I don't believe I stated that though, I did state that I believe the author to be correct...if you go through time and percentage of killings or 'human rights violations' over time...we are living in the most peaceful time in existence...

Now some Christian may pipe in here....but I believe according to Genesis in the first century 25% of the population wiped out another 25% of the population...So that was actually our worst time in history....we've done nothing but improve since then. Our current population is over 6 trillion and I'd say we've probably killed less than a billion in the past century. Less than 2 tenths of 1%??

17th Angel · 04-11-2007, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wil

I did state that I believe the author to be correct...if you go through time and percentage of killings or 'human rights violations' over time...we are living in the most peaceful time in existence...

I still say that author is talking out his arse... Indeed as I stated it is less -violent- but it is in no way peace on Earth is it.. Is it?

enlightenment · 04-11-2007, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

I still say that author is talking out his arse... Indeed as I stated it is less -violent- but it is in no way peace on Earth is it.. Is it?

Quality!

17th Angel · 04-11-2007, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enlightenment

Quality!

Say it like it is

Go with christ brah!

enlightenment · 04-11-2007, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

Say it like it is

!

Okay.

I think the author is a total knobjockey.

enlightenment · 04-11-2007, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wil

I believe there is much truth in that, despite Iraq, Afganistan, Darfor, Sudan, 9/11 and all the other events of the past 10 years....

Yup.

And despite the fact that there is no atmosphere on the moon, I beleive I can breathe there anyway.

We just need to try a bit more....

wil · 04-11-2007, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 17th Angel

I still say that author is talking out his arse... Indeed as I stated it is less -violent- but it is in no way peace on Earth is it.. Is it?

Come on 17th, who pissed in your oats? It is not the author speaking out of his arse, but you are putting words in his arse...he never said peace on earth. The quote is:

Quote:

"Today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species' time on Earth," he writes.

note he even has the caveat....probably

In the entire article he charts and details dramatic improvement, not only over the centuries but in the past century.

He also acknowledges we have hotspots, and issues...but the grand scale is improving.

Quote:

The criminologist Manuel Eisner has assembled hundreds of homicide estimates from Western European localities that kept records at some point between 1200 and the mid-1990s. In every country he analyzed, murder rates declined steeply--for example, from 24 homicides per 100,000 Englishmen in the fourteenth century to 0.6 per 100,000 by the early 1960s.

On the scale of decades, comprehensive data again paint a shockingly happy picture: Global violence has fallen steadily since the middle of the twentieth century. According to the Human Security Brief 2006, the number of battle deaths in interstate wars has declined from more than 65,000 per year in the 1950s to less than 2,000 per year in this decade. In Western Europe and the Americas, the second half of the century saw a steep decline in the number of wars, military coups, and deadly ethnic riots.

17th Angel · 04-11-2007, 03:17 PM

That author pissed in my oats... And to top it off... I hate oats... I guess maybe I "flew" a little but still How can you call it peaceful times? You can't surley? If anyone asked you to describe the world at current would the word peace even come to mind... I dunno, I am going to go have a cigarette... It's been almost an hour... That maybe the reason.