Is The World Becoming More Violent?
Is The World Becoming More Violent?
I seems that every time you turn on your phone/TV/toaster you'll be greeted with some form of violence: be it a terrorist bombing attack in Europe, a battle over a city in the Middle East, or you burning your finger on the toaster you just turned on. It's virtually inescapable. Be it a North Korean missile tests, civil war in Syria or Civil War in the Marvel Universe, every media outlet seems to be hell-bent on letting us know that it is worse now than it ever was in the history of our species and that the end is nigh.
Guns don't kill people, people kill guns...hmm that's not right
Is this really true? Are we really more violent today than ever before? You'll have to read the rest of the article to find out the answer; or at least one more word: no.
Declining Rates of Violence
There has always existed a strong temptation to romanticize the days of the past. Understandably, this is a very human temptation: as we're getting older there's a natural inclination to blame our progressively shittier lives on the rest of the world rather than the fact that getting older itself is the shitty part. There was no terrorism in the 80s, no nuclear bombs or Legos to step on in the 30s, no automatic rifles 200 years ago, no universe 14 billion years ago when everything was perfectly fine! While some of this may true, our ancestors were, on the whole, far more violent than we are today.
The history of our species is replete with violence, suffering and death. Hunter gatherer societies weren't exactly egalitarian Utopias where everybody shared all their resources and lived in harmony. If you were lucky, you'll maybe to live to the ripe old age of 22 before being put to death for the crime of not having a skull as hard as the rock with which your neighbor had used to smash your head in; all because he wanted to test out his new rock. As Thomas Hobbes put it, life outside of civilization was '...nasty, brutish and short', although he resented his wife for adopting the same phrase to refer to his penis.
Modern day violent death rates would be even lower if the voices in my head would stop
In this book The Better Angels of Our Nature Profession Steven Pinker shows that contemporary hunter gatherer societies have male homicide rates of between 15% to 60%. This rate would be similar to if there were a rule which mandated every guy in our developed society to play Russian Roulette twice in their life; which would make it pretty awkward for the ones who'd already lost the first time around. In the middle ages things were only marginally better with 5%-10% of all people broken at the wheel, burnt at the stake or otherwise dying a gruesome death at the hands of their peers. And you thought witch hunts on Steemit were bad. In contrast, throughout the entire 20th century, even accounting for the horrors of World War I and its sequel, death by the hands of another person were only a fraction of 1%.
Be Vigilant, but not Paranoid
We've evolved an inherent bias towards being more sensitive to bad stimuli than good stimuli. Having ancestors that were most likely to run at the sound of a roaring lion, even if nine times out of ten the lion never appeared, means we inherited the genes that make us hate incurring losses more than we enjoy victories. The price of Steem doubling is nice and all, but I was more worried that day when it dropped 50% than that one time when I pulled too quickly and broke the string on my anal beads.
What? You weren't expecting a picture of my anal beads were you?
Similarly, we're more likely to react to the increasing amounts of bad news in the media, thanks to everyone having a camera on their phone these days, and take that to be representative of the world at large. But in actual fact, violence has steadily decreased since the dawn of civilization. That is not to say that there doesn't exist any problems in our current world but we should keep in mind that this decline in violence is not automatic or guaranteed and must be actively pursued through continued efforts.
The world is not as grim as what your Facebook feed may lead you to believe. As much as Fox News would have us think that terrorists no longer need suicide vests because Muslims have evolved explosive torsos, we mustn't lose perspective on how far we've come and how lucky we are to all be sitting here, typing up a high earning Steemit post while a Swiss model is massaging our feet. No? Just me then?
Sources:
Steven Pinker Presentation
Unilad
Image Sources 1,2,3
Thank you everyone for checking out my milestone article. The reception has truly been overwhelming, and I'm sorry I couldn't reply to every comment (I seriously tried). That was by far my best received post yet which makes the milestone article itself a milestone.
I'll be bringing back the 1 liner contest soon to help discover new talent on here, and I might consider writing a comedy writing guide if people are interested. I still wish to mostly focus on mainstream articles like this current one. They're actually the most difficult to put together as they require a bit of research and I have less freedom with the jokes, but I feel there's a shortage of these types of posts on the platform. Let me know in the comments below what you want to see more of from me.
If you enjoyed this post please Upvote, Resteem and Follow me @trafalgar for more funny articles
A post focussing on the good news instead of only bad. The World isn't such a bad place after all.
yes, exactly
Here some statistics about causes of death in Germany (year 2015):
That means to become a victim of a terror attack is statistically extremely unlikely. Ladders, stairs, cars, my own psyche are all much more dangerous (which still doesn't mean I refuse to sit in a car ... :-) )
I wonder why newspapers aren't full of cover stories about dangerous ladders, how to forbid them, fight against them and punish everybody who dares to buy one ...
It is true that if a terror attack happens, it is really terrible for all affected persons and I really feel with them and their relatives and friends, but that doesn't change my opinion that we react completely irrational. We do exactly what the terrorists want: fear them a lot and talk and read about them all the time ... As a consequence the terrorists are winning even if they are less dangerous than ordinary traffic jam: we change our behavior and restrict voluntarily our own freedom (in the seek of vain safety).
yes it's true, as soon as you introduce an element of human intention, our reaction to violence completely changes
we've had relatively few terrorist acts in Australia (3 deaths in the last few years) but a lot of laws have been changed in response to it, whereas floods and forest fires can cause far more deaths and we don't react anywhere near as strongly
Yeah, violence has been on the decline, regardless of what the news makes out, but don't you worry:
I'm bringing violence back!
make it ultraviolence please
Thanks old droog, you're a real horrorshow!
hahaha fantastic! Can't wait!
There are two answers to the subject of this posts.
Yes
No
And the reason for both is same. Let me explain it. The world is not fair and all the people on this planet are not getting equal opportunities, facilities, environment, education, goverance and prosperity.
The regions where people are enjoying prosperous lives are becoming less violent in general whereas the parts of the world where lives of people are getting worse and worse show trends of more violence over time. European countries vs African countries for example. There is a stark difference in the living standards and quite naturally a stark difference in the activities of violence.
Technology is helping solving this problem through interaction, education, financial uplift and raising living standards.
Wishing for a peaceful world.
@ilyastarar
You are right, I live in Honduras and we have a very high murder rate, I'm talking about 14 a day, 30 years ago it was about 1 a day. But I don't see anything solving it, the only thing the government does is add more policemen who do nothing.
Thank you for the example from your own experience. Because no one is solving the problem properly, the crime rate has soared. Had there been a concerned goverment, people could have been served better and they wouldn't be so violent.
I am gonna get flamed a lot for saying this, but here I go anyways. The fact that Earth is getting a bit overpopulated doesn't make things any easier. Tons of new people being born that will probably not have a proper family or a proper education only hints that things may become worse. Especially in poorer countries, it is common for a woman to give birth to seven or eight kids during their lifetimes, and often these women don't have a proper education, they lack a husband, have to work minimum wages, and all that translates into the fact that she really can't take care of her kids, which then grow in the streets and are exposed to bad influences as they become adults. :(
And then someone comes along and says we are going to colonize space and save Earth for food and water. Everyone will have a position in this effort and will be paid by the most popular cryptocurrency for their efforts. huh? Oh wow I was dreaming.
i agree.
Thank you
lol
I have analyzed thru the whitewashed garbage in my city/region --- the facts that crime is way way down and we keep hiring more and more police officers.
That is a one line issue but when you consider nobody challenges their budget or practices, ( I have for years, openly and been targeted and harassed) --- the liberty aspect and the fiscal aspect of their 30 year huge wages and pensions and benefits is draining the system --- and is like this everywhere, not just my area.
yes, the trend is definitely that violence is going down, within developed communities and the world at large
absolutely agree
Violence by the state on residents and humanity in general, well, that is a different story of course as it relates to these numbers and trends.
You have a good night. Or day.
Well, wherever you are ahead of me somewhere LOL
Well, I don't know. In undeveloped countries violence is very commonplace. Drug cartels, gang wars, etc.
Because I am American, I formed my opinion before I read any of your delightful article. My answer was... "It depends". And that still is my answer. But sure enough, you addressed exactly what I was going to bring up. It all depends on what we are comparing.
We are definitely more civilized and less violent than 1000 years ago... but are we civilized enough? I say "no". I have very high expectations for human beings. We are an incredibly intelligent species. I think we can do much better.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of money to be made off of violence. For that reason alone, I fear we will not reach our full potential. Sensationalizing violence pays. If we could stop that, we could make even more progress. "But if ifs and buts were candy and nuts..." I still wouldn't eat them because who wants to eat a butt? Especially if it still has some beads lodged in it?
Oh yes, I mean comparing 1000 years ago isn't exactly a high bar, but we have made very gradual progress
You'd think being on the cusp of colonize mars and quantum computing would mean our killing each other on large scale days are well behind us, but no. Definitely room for improvement here
Wow. That may be the most meaningful conversation we have ever had. Have we become an old married couple? Is the excitement dead?
Oh never mind... the beads are still there!
Oh I have the answer. We colonize mars, find some creatures living there and then kill them instead.
Oh wait. That sounds a lot like what happened in the 1500s. Damn!
This time we can put it on the news every night!
What I am thinking is that the world is more connected these days than ever before with social media and things of that sort... The world is more connected and every bad news or good news can be received instantly.... just my thoughts. Let's all make a world a better place :)
Valid point. Almost every phone can make videos now a days and with the internet it spreads really fast to people who are looking for it. This creates an image that the world is on fire but random acts of kindness are also seen this way. It depends on the propaganda that coverment's want to feed us. Social media connect us indeed so that misleading information can be exposed. Change starts with ourself first, be an example or better an inspiration for others. At least that's what I do.
Absolutely agree and what are your mainstream media people telling you? And, do you see social media being regulated in the area of free speech to redirect the media desired narrative? Trust your own intuition.
yes i definitely agree
You the man @Trafalgar ... keep up the awesome posts!
Connectivity certainly does accelerate the process of knowledge. I think we all need to bring the hippie out in us and start Peace Rallies. LOL
I agree with you haha
I'm a fan of Steven Pinker and particularly The Better Angels of Our Nature. That's absolutely right - we live in the most peaceful times ever. Thank you for writing this - it's always an important reminder.
PS: I wrote about this very topic 10 months ago! And again 7 months ago. Oh, how time flies :)
ya his work is awesome, he's a very clear thinker and good communicator
hope you don't mind me going over the same ground you've already covered
This ground was covered by Steven Pinker first, and I say keep writing about it! It's an important topic that should get as much attention as the doom saying media. Of course, it's much more than just violence - the world is improving in pretty much every way (except for the environment).
I have a massage chair but sadly my Steemit post don't even worth a penny. However, it doesn't prevent me from agreeing with you.
I think the overwhelming ease of access to information, true or fake, make us not able to see the turth.
Just like during SARS time in Hong Kong, all the news about how many persons got infected that day, how many people died of SARS, etc make Hong Kong people extremely sensitive and majority of them felt really like end of world had arrived. Nobody dared to go out because they afraid that they would bump into a SARA carrier in the street and got infected. But the odd was even lower that seeing a TV star shoppinv next to you.
I totally agree, all those epidemics were such nonsense
bird flu, cow flu, sars, rolls eyes
On behalf of the entire platform, I would to thank you for not including the picture of your beads. Thank you very much!
He got them off me on ebay
No buyer's remorse there.
And you sir... must have been doing some serious yoga.
I completely understand how you did not get to all of the comments on your milestone, my computer was having a HELL of a time loading your page...my laptop was like chug a chug a chug a chug a NAH UH, LOL!!
So I decided it would probably make more sense to quit getting frustrated and come to this post, it appears this is an acceptable amount for my girl. (Yes, my laptop is female, and I love her like men love cars :)
What I wanted to say in the milestone, well actually I wanted to state a belief I have at this current point in time. And I'm being entirely serious here- The universe is exalting creative people right now. What I mean is that I'm not surprised at all that you are in the position you're in, because you are a creative being, so naturally steemit would have been what drew you. And I really do believe it is simply time for the creators, artists, inventors, and...as my name would suggest, the dreamers. We are being helped along by some invisible force that wants us to succeed.
In a way it correlates with this post, the idea that violence has in fact decreased mightily. There is a great number of debates concerning whether or not we've crossed from the pisces era to the age of aquarius (and regardless of how that sounds, I'm not a 'read your horoscope in the morning' individual) but if we haven't quite made it into the age of 'knowing' which is in part what that represents, we are certainly on the brink.
I don't know if it will ever be possible to have utopia in this realm of existence, what I do know is that there is a massive amount of people who are way past petty violence and greed, who could and would thrive in a world where the only law was Do No Harm. Where the quest for knowledge replaced the quest for money, where we all loved our neighbor as we love ourselves.
In a lot of ways (or for the most part) I think steemit is a great representation of what that society would look like.
I am super happy for your good fortune, congrats my friend, keep doing what you're doing you are exactly what is needed here :)
thank you very much dreemit!
yes we can sequence our genome and shove billions of transistors into a wafer the size of a quarter yet we still haven't found a way to to resist the urge to not kill each other on a large scale
progress is slow, but its noticeable