"The Better Angels of Our Nature" Part 1: You're Not Wrong, Pinker. You're Just An *sshole

This week we're tackling Steven Pinker's 900 page dissection of the reasons why violence, torture and war have declined over the last 10,000 years. Was it an indeterminate mixture of politics, economics, technology and serendipity? Or did some European guys write some books that said murder was bad?

Special thanks to Philip Dwyer, Eleanor Janega, David M. Perry and Doug Thompson for help researching and fact-checking this episode!

Where to find us:

• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• TheDarker Angels of Our Nature
• GettingMedieval On Steven Pinker
• TheDecline of Violence in the West: From Cultural to Post-Cultural History
• Pinker’s(Mis)Representation of the Enlightenment and Violence
• Herdingand Homicide: An Examination of the Nisbett-Reaves Hypothesis
• Peace in Our Time
• JohnGray: Steven Pinker is wrong about violence and war
• Thebusiness class doesn't understand the Enlightenment
• DelusionsOf Peace
• PinkerAnd Progress
• NorbertElias and the History of Violence
• Modernization,Self-Control And Lethal Violence
• ExplainingLong Term Trends in Violent Crime
• TheEnlightenment’s Dark Side

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!