
Violence Has Not Been Declining Over Time - dforrestwilson1
https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.04722
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johnjackamend
There has been lots of contention around this topic. I personally agree with
the contrary and Steven Pinkers position. You can see him refute Taleb's
claims here:
[http://stevenpinker.com/files/comments_on_taleb_by_s_pinker....](http://stevenpinker.com/files/comments_on_taleb_by_s_pinker.pdf)

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jelliclesfarm
I don't understand. Are you saying that Pinker claims that violence HAS been
declining over time??

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travmatt
his book is titled "Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence has Declined"

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jelliclesfarm
[http://bigthink.com/videos/steven-pinker-redefines-moral-
rel...](http://bigthink.com/videos/steven-pinker-redefines-moral-relativism) :
so looking around for what pinker has been upto..clearly he has lost it. Even
this example of moral solutions vs non moral solution is wrong as it's
possible to do both.

Secondly: he brings up Norman Borlaug of the green revolution. First of all,
he IS well known. I learnt about him in school. Maybe they didn't in North
American schools. Secondly, his 'technology' has made a desert out of the most
fertile lands in India. It was chemical farming that destroyed lives,
economies, created poverty and spread cancer through the farming community.
The land where green revolution was implemented in India is not even arable
now. I am not only surprised but shocked that he would bring up Norman Borlaug
as a hero..albeit maybe he meant well and didn't know the consequences of his
actions.

I don't recognize this Steven Pinker or his words from over 15 years ago.

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dforrestwilson1
I have seen a lot of comments supporting Pax Americana, stating that we have
seen fewer conflicts and therefore that violence has been in decline... This
would seem to refute that.

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mamon
Pax Americana is kind of riddiculous name for the fact that US has started
over 200 military conflicts since WW2. America is at war 93% of it's
existence:

[http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-
war-93-time-2...](http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/america-
war-93-time-222-239-years-since-1776.html)

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oconnor663
To be fair, Pax Romana worked the same way right?

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avenius
It did - while the inner parts of the empire were quite peaceful, there were
still conflicts along the outer borders. Since there haven't been any wars on
US soil for ages, calling it Pax Americana seems alright to me.

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taejo
> there haven't been any wars on US soil for ages

I think, to be meaningful, Pax Americana must refer to an "empire" larger than
the territory of the United States. There hasn't been a war in Western Europe
since 1945; the longest lasting war in South America was the Falklands War at
74 days.

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slededit
You don't consider Columbia's conflict with the FARC a war?

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taejo
I meant to write "non-civil" or "international" war. Oops. I definitely had
that in mind.

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jelliclesfarm
Has anyone read Pinker's book?(better angels..) Thoughts?

