Just been listening to this guy on the radio, very interesting but I'm not sure if he's counting all the proxy wars the superpowers engaged in after WW2 that laid waste to large areas of Asia, and the near constant violence in Africa, but for us 1st worlder's it seems we never had it so good......
Violence may seem to be all around us. Soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan. Drug-related shootings and senseless murders splash across the nightly news, and even the schools are no haven, with episodes of hazing and bullying prompting a national discussion on how to keep children safe from each other. Violence may seem to be wherever we look, but the perception that we live in violent times is wrong, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker <http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/about/> said Tuesday evening during a talk at the Boston Public Library <http://www.bpl.org/> 's Honan-Allston Branch <http://www.bpl.org/branches/allston.htm> . Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology and Harvard College Professor, said we're actually in a period referred to by scholars as "The Long Peace," which began at the end of World War II, and which is marked by the absence of war among the world's great powers. But that's just part of the picture, Pinker said. Interpersonal violence is also at a historic low, he said, likely brought about by the spread of civilization, of police and justice systems, of literacy and global trade, and by concepts of civil and human rights. "Violence has been in decline for long stretches of time, and today may be the most peaceful era in our species' history," Pinker said. For a completely Maharishi Effect - free explanation read on: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/03/pinker-explains-the-long-p\ eace/ <http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/03/pinker-explains-the-long-\ peace/>
