Posted on 10/22/2011 3:43:04 PM PDT by decimon
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— The number of people killed in battle — calculated per 100,000 population — has dropped by 1,000-fold over the centuries as civilizations evolved. Before there were organized countries, battles killed on average more than 500 out of every 100,000 people. In 19th century France, it was 70. In the 20th century with two world wars and a few genocides, it was 60. Now battlefield deaths are down to three-tenths of a person per 100,000.
— The rate of genocide deaths per world population was 1,400 times higher in 1942 than in 2008.
— There were fewer than 20 democracies in 1946. Now there are close to 100. Meanwhile, the number of authoritarian countries has dropped from a high of almost 90 in 1976 to about 25 now.
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Good old days ping.
Include the genocide of children that we call abortion, and the picture changes.
I mean, like, uh, I read this and I was like...wow. My friend here from school was like wow, too, ya know? We are like the ones we've been waiting for.
More Christians were martyred in the last century than in all of previous history. Also, I predict all the author’s trends will be upset when the Islamists get nukes, or China finally gets ready to invade Taiwan.
I think so. The great Soviet slaughters ended with the end of Stalin or a bit before. In the PRC with the demise of Mao. North Korea and Cambodia just have too few people to slaughter to raise the stats by much.
In the 1950s and 1960s the Soviets and ChiComs fomented insurrections in Asia and Africa that killed I-don't-know-how-many millions of people.
Statistically, it probably is pretty peaceful these days.
I mean, like, uh, I read this and I was like...wow. My friend here from school was like wow, too, ya know? We are like the ones we've been waiting for.
The statistics are probably better than the conclusions.
He examines body counts, rapes, sacrifice and slavery in the Bible, using an estimate of 1.2 million deaths detailed in the Old Testament.
It's pretty well understood that battlefield numbers in the Bible are grossly overestimated. Is that the kind of thing he considers evidence?
In the 19th cent., for the first time, there were enormous conscript armies, whereas in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, sovereigns often had to hire mercenaries. Yet we're supposed to believe that the medieval armies killed more of the population than the later forces? Part of the answer may be that up until WW I, most of the deaths in war resulted from disease.
OF COURSE the genocide rate was higher in 1942! I thank the study for this brilliant piece of analysis!
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks decimon. And if we can get the Muzzies started fighting one another, and keep 'em stoked (and sell ammo to all sides), the temporary uptick will be more than offset by generations of calm. |
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No, man's nature has not changed.
For statistics on government-sponsored killing, I like this site:
Ah, I was just about to post that link, but you beat me to it.
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM
Aside from the issue of democide (which I don’t know if Pinker addresses or not), I’d disagree w/ the premise the violence has declined in the modern era.
If anything, I would argue that the level violence has increased in this era of omnipotent government. The key difference now being, that the violence is more indirect in form—i.e., exacted via laws, bureaucracies, taxes, etc. All of which maintain the implicit threat of someone putting a gun to your head and threatening your life.
Yeah, I was afraid this non-catastrophe might upset you.
Here’s a guy got killed by a shark - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2796583/posts?page=10
;-)
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