The Better Angels of Our Nature

I love this book because it presents remarkable evidence from multiple fields that the world has gotten profoundly better (at least, regarding violence). The realization that the world can improve and has improved is...liberating? Surprisingly many people don't believe this, though I expect on HN belief in progress is not uncommon.

on HN, 2017

In particular, I found it eye-opening to learn how much everyday violence human beings have inflicted on each other throughout history, and how remarkably non-violent most lives are today, by comparison, in more developed economies.

on HN, 2019

If you see that a pile of laundry has gone down, it does not mean the clothes washed themselves; it means someone washed the clothes. If a type of violence has gone down, then some change in the social, cultural, or material milieu has caused it to go down.

on HN, 2018

If you’re reading this, you are not dead, starving, destitute, moribund, terrified, enslaved, or illiterate, which means that you’re in no position to turn your nose up at these values.

on HN, 2018

There is this notion that things were much better in the past. These books shred it to pieces.

on HN, 2019

And for practically every form of human-on-human misery you can think of the stats show that violence is decreasing. If you agree that this is a good proxy for the human condition then you then agree that society is getting 'better'.

on HN, 2018