evolutionary psychologist stephen pinker on the decline of violence in the world

This may challenge a lot of people, but Pinker is a heavyweight of the Richard Dawkins, Richard Feynmann, Stephen Hawking breed in his own field.  It will be controversial (the link to the Scientific American review below is not positive), but it will not be ignored.

From a podcast promoting his new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Why Violence Has Declined:

“Believe it or not, violence has been in decline for long stretches of time. And today are probably living in the most peaceful time in our species’ existence.” Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 17th. His new book is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.

“The decline of violence has not been steady. It has not brought violence down to zero. And it is not guaranteed to continue. But…it is a persistent historical development, visible on scales from millennia to years, from the waging of wars and genocides to the spanking of children and the treatment of animals.”