Humanity becoming...LESS violent? WTF??

Smallpox is gone and polio is on the way out. Can you at least be happy about that?

Smallpox is still around as biological weaponry (and nobody gets vaccinated for it anymore) and polio just got into China, the most populated country on Earth. Try again.

I am now known as Flyboy.

USAF you're being obnoxious. You're saying that the potential for catastrophic disaster is identical to catastrophic disaster. Your position is basically non-falsifiable, and therefore it's not scientifically valid.

Umm, guys, violence over history discussion where?

Violent action per capita is, according to the data, going down. Exploitation per capita needs to be a) clearly defined, and b) in its own thread.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.

Yeah, I mean, it's only violence in a metaphorical fashion.

Though I'm not sure it deserves its own thread, as we're only going in circles here.

I'm not in a good mood.

The argument is that the violence has turned into exploitation...

edited 1st Oct '11 8:30:37 PM by USAF713

I am now known as Flyboy.

Disagreed upon, but it's off-topic either way.

Well, then the thread is pointless. "Science says that statistically, violence has gone down." Ok. Whatever? In the short-term, statistics don't really tell you anything. Check back in five years and tell us if it's holding constant and/or declining and we can discuss it...

I am now known as Flyboy.

I imagine that the science is looking at a progression over the last 30+ years.

And so we then come to my postulation that physical violence is going up as social aggression comes in to replace it. But that, apparently, is off-topic. So, what do we discuss? "Violence went down. Yay! The end."

I am now known as Flyboy.

It went down. That's the end of that. If you have nothing else to say about it, get out of the thread. Such is the fate of OTC.

Well, there's "Why has violence gone down?" "Do we expect this trend to continue?" "What can be done to hasten the process?" and so on.

And I really have a hard time believing that you think social extortion is worse now than it was for, say, Medieval European peasants.

Worse? No. Just different.

And, my simple theory is that society has deemed violence to be less acceptable, coupled with new, more efficient, and less direct (therefore meaning less obvious)) ways of committing aggression...

I am now known as Flyboy.

What could be more efficient than "Do what I say because you belong to me"?

The Arab Spring disagrees with you.

Weaponisation is the problem, not technological advancement. That's like saying don't drink fruit juice, alcohol kills you.

Laws are made to be broken. You're next, thermodynamics.

'In World War Two we helped to defeat some of the greatest threats to humanity in centuries.'

...and then you say that it's a bad thing later. You make no sense.

edited 2nd Oct '11 9:17:11 AM by Katrika

"You fail to grasp the basic principles of mad science. Common sense would be cheating." - Narbonic

Touche on the Arab Spring.

Ignoring the argument that it might have ended better had we not entered either World War, it's not that us fighting it was bad, so much as our dumbass complacency afterward.

Hardship breeds change. Privilege breeds apathy.

I am now known as Flyboy.

The obvious thing you seem to be missing is that the reason you want change in the first place is to have privilege.

No, I simply think that when and if we get there we can't forget that we're far better off than others, and that instead of sitting about we could be doing something to fix that.

I am now known as Flyboy.