There are "hard" sciences and "soft" sciences and then there are "soft-headed" scientists.
From the BBC:
Psychologist and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker at Harvard University thinks it is completely conceivable that wars between countries might go the way of slave auctions, debtors’ prisons and other barbaric customs.
He argues that while there is plenty of violence around the world, and more ways of killing each other, we have witnessed fewer and fewer wars between countries since 1945. Not only, is war is at an all-time low, rates of homicide are far lower than they were in the Middle Ages, and issues like domestic violence are no longer seen as being acceptable.Perhaps the problems with his observations are related to the framing of his hypothesis, to wit: there are less wars between countries, therefore world peace is possible. Dr. Pinker has either intentionally or sloppily excluded most of the Islamic portion of the world from his thought process. The old British Empire "nations" are happily fighting as tribes, sects, or extra-national Islamic organizations such as al Qaeda or the Muslim Brotherhood.
As for those barbaric customs and domestic violence ways, here's a recent sampling from Jihad Watch:
- Canada: Muslim who slit his wife's throat for adopting Western values found guilty of second-degree murder.
- Italy: Muslim father kills children after his wife refuses to wear Islamic veil and threatens to leave.
- Iran: Four women stoned to death.
- "My mother always said, 'We, the Arabs, we were born to hate Jews.'"
- Ethiopian woman tells of sex slavery in Saudi Arabia.
- Egypt's Christians fear "a season of blood."
... and so many more.
Sure, Dr. Pinker, it's all just disappearing in front of our eyes... which are tightly closed so as to not see any reality.