SFS Minute 947: Violence

News coverage understandably focuses on all of the bad: the conflict, the crime, the instability. When we see this constantly, day after day, it can feel as if the world is becoming a more dangerous place every year. But research gives us a different story. I'll tell you what it is right after this. Across centuries, the overall rate of violence has declined significantly. War deaths as a percentage of the global population are lower than they have ever been. The lesson is surprising. Human society, despite setbacks like we are seeing now, has gradually become more stable and cooperative. And in the 1970s, crime was much worse than it is now. You have to be old enough to remember that. I am. It may be hard to believe, but we are living in one of the least violent times in human history.