ARTICLE: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, by Steven Pinker
Nice article on a point I've been making in my brief going back to 1996: the further you go back in history, the more per capita violence you find--pure and simple.
This is a good examination of that grand historical trend. I'm not sure I buy the notion that we soft scientists needed some biologist to clue us in. After all, Pinker's conclusions are based on data from "soft" fields like poli sci that have been compiled for decades. People just like absolute numbers more than relative ones.
Still, every bit helps when you fight the hype.
Thanks to Nathan Machula for sending this.
| Permalink |
Comments (1)
Actually Pinker is a cognitive scientist not a biologist. The way the human mind works at a macro and a micro level alone an in the context of a society is very much in his realm of expertise.
Posted by Jeff | April 5, 2007 9:43 AM