This is cool
Despite everything, humanity is getting nobler. Twentieth century murder rates were only 1/60th of what they were in the first century, and that includes both world wars. Change is speeding up.
Don't worry. We're getting smarter. Not just that we know more, but we're starting to learn how to live together. Human life and freedom are getting more valuable. Technology's gonna be awesome.
We may still be lost, but not like we used to be. Confused and scared of our own potential, marked by failure, setback and fear, slowly but certainly we're stumbling toward the light.
This study/article finds that violence has been steadily declining over the course of human history.
"But now that social scientists have started to count bodies in different historical periods, they have discovered that the romantic theory gets it backward: Far from causing us to become more violent, something in modernity and its cultural institutions has made us nobler. In fact, our ancestors were far more violent than we are today. Indeed, violence has been in decline over long stretches of history, and today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species' time on earth."
"All this unhappiness, all this suffering-- what is it for? Some day we'll understand. Some day we'll know the answer...
Our unhappiness, our suffering, won't be wasted. They're a preliminary to better times. And the people who come after us will inherit a better life-- a life of peace and content and happiness."
-Chekhov, Three Sisters
We might be living that life Chekhov was talking about. It's exciting, but maybe a little sad. No more dragons to kill, you know? As a species, I think we're growing up.
Don't worry. We're getting smarter. Not just that we know more, but we're starting to learn how to live together. Human life and freedom are getting more valuable. Technology's gonna be awesome.
We may still be lost, but not like we used to be. Confused and scared of our own potential, marked by failure, setback and fear, slowly but certainly we're stumbling toward the light.
This study/article finds that violence has been steadily declining over the course of human history.
"But now that social scientists have started to count bodies in different historical periods, they have discovered that the romantic theory gets it backward: Far from causing us to become more violent, something in modernity and its cultural institutions has made us nobler. In fact, our ancestors were far more violent than we are today. Indeed, violence has been in decline over long stretches of history, and today we are probably living in the most peaceful moment of our species' time on earth."
"All this unhappiness, all this suffering-- what is it for? Some day we'll understand. Some day we'll know the answer...
Our unhappiness, our suffering, won't be wasted. They're a preliminary to better times. And the people who come after us will inherit a better life-- a life of peace and content and happiness."
-Chekhov, Three Sisters
We might be living that life Chekhov was talking about. It's exciting, but maybe a little sad. No more dragons to kill, you know? As a species, I think we're growing up.