The better angels of our nature
by Steven Pinker · first published 2011
47% recommend43% neutral10% critical
Why HN recommends it
Statistics-heavy long view of history arguing violence has declined over centuries; recommended to anyone worried the world is getting worse, as a data-driven counter to media anecdotes and doom-laden news.
Common criticism: Some say its historical and statistical conclusions are over-reaching or loosely tied to science
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
From Goodreads: Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year The author of The New York Times bestseller The Stuff of Thought offers a controversial history of violence. Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millennia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence. For
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…the general attitude of "I better kill him before he kills me" (a kind of fear) has been the dominant cause of violence for most of human history. And there was an awful lot of that violence (read The Better Angels of our Nature by Pinker). Even violence that seems gratuitous is often driven by this fear. A gang leader is essentially riding a tiger he can't let go of, and must constantly generate fear to stay alive. Hobbes…
on “Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan shaped modern politics” ↗"Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined" by Steven Pinker Bill Gates calls it one of the most important books he's read in his life. "People often ask me what is the best book I’ve read in the last year. Steven…
on “Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?” ↗The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker. It's a history of macro trends in violence - wars, homicide, rape, etc. The burden of violence in the modern world is much, much lower than it was historically, even fairly recently.…
on “Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?” ↗Step away from "news" and read Better Angels of our Nature by Stephen Pinker: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/... Not only is the world better than ever, it is getting better faster than ever, and it's accelerating. The news is getting…
on “Ask HN: How do you overcome Weltschmerz or fatalism about our future?” ↗…great deal of socialisation and enculturation. Most people, in most places throughout history have not treated members of the outgroup as having rights or worth. There are some wonderful parts of The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker, but one of my favourites was him taking the piss out of Richard Dawkins for thinking Saddam Hussein was uniquely and especially evil, worthy of individual study. Saddam's morality is vastly…
on “The Myth of the Psychopath” ↗…to Japanese culture. That's because in this respect we're a lot weirder than they are in historical perspective. If you want a good overview of man's violence towards man and it's decline I recommend Better Angels of Our Nature, Stephen Pinker.
on “Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit” ↗…behaviors. It lends so much more credence to one's agenda when you have science to back it up. Plus, we have to take into account natural human biases towards tribalism. I'm a fan of Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature, and do, in general and on average, believe we're becoming more civilized. I believe part of this ongoing civilization project is to work against this tribalism bias (while necessitates taking into account)…
on “The Race to Weaponize Empathy” ↗No, what you see on the news is whatever sells news. If murder is commonplace, then it's not news. If murder is rare, each event becomes a media storm. Read The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker. Violence has consistently been on a long downward trend. There may be spikes localized by time or space, but it's doubtful we are reversing the trend on any long timescale or large area.…
on “Most Americans see catastrophic weather events worsening” ↗…Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress Hardcover," by Steven Pinker -- even if you disagree with him about some things (for example, on principle), the book is really worth a slow, careful read. * "The Better Angels of Our Nature," also by Steven Pinker -- in many ways, this is a precursor to the above book, and also worth a careful read. In particular, I found it eye-opening to learn how much everyday violence human beings have…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗…suffering that would make even Dr. Evil blush.[b] Just search for "medieval torture" online to see what I mean. Steven Pinker has a good summary of the violent nature of Medial Europe in his book, "The Better Angels of Our Nature."[c] -- [a] https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/life-violence-m... [b] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methods_of_torture#Med... [c] https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/...
on “The Flute of Shame” ↗Steven Pinker's "Better Angels of Our Nature" and the sequel "Enlightenment Now" briefly helped to restore my faith that humanity is not entirely an evil virus best gone the way of the dinosaurs. Don't get me wrong though, these books are not easy…
on “Ask HN: What book changed your life?” ↗extreme violence of the 20th century Maybe he should read Steven Pinker's new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. http://www.amazon.com/The-Better-Angels-Nature-ebook/dp/B005... Here's a discussion of the main point of that book: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/qa-with-steven-pinker/…
on “Ask HN: Is World War III imminent?” ↗Both Steven Johnson's "Where Good Ideas Come From" and Steven Pinker's "Better Angels of our Nature" have fantastic discussions on many other occurrences of power law distributions.
on “Pay attention to power law distributions” ↗If you haven't read it, Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature is a tour-de-force on the factors that have reduced violence of all kinds.
on “Falling Crime: Where have all the burglars gone?” ↗A great book to read on the decline of violence in the world: The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined by Steven Pinker. The Hacker News community should like it as it focuses on the stats and facts rather than anecdotal stories the media slings. The main thesis: Violence (in…
on “If a Drone Strike Hit an American Wedding We'd Ground Our Fleet” ↗