Book Review: The Better Angels of our Nature

Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has declined is a really good example of why I try to read non-fiction on a regular basis. The thesis of the book is simply that as a species, humans are less violent now than we were in the past, regardless of what the news, politicians, or anyone else says.

The book, although a little dry and hovering at just over 700 pages, works to prove that historically, we had a much higher tolerance for violence than we do now, and that if you take into account the percentage of an effected population rather than the simple number of people killed, people are killing each other a lot less now than they did in the past.

This doesn't mean that no one is killing anyone else, or that all violence is going to disappear sometime soon, it simply means that on a societal level, we aren't being as violent as we used to be.

The book is definitely one that opens up conversation, and the reviews all seem to either love it or hate it, but for me it was an interesting look at our history of violence towards each other, with an optimistic look to the future (Pinker does not suggest a perfect future, but a much more tolerant one).

A Fascinating Read.

Things I’ve noticed: Sometimes violence in videogames can mess with your head

This morning I was talking to my nineteen-year-old daughter about the game Infamous. I wrote a review of it earlier this week and she is currently working through the game herself. She explained to me that at one point in the game while stopping a prison break, she witnessed one of the villainous dustmen shoot a police officer with a rocket launcher and although she had been knocking out dustmen up to that point, she made a special effort to kill this one.

It’s funny, as neither character were actually real people (sorry ReBoot – maybe they were, but for the purposes of this post let’s assume they weren’t) there should not have been any specific reason for her to target this one villain over any others, but I suppose the fact that as the main character in the game, it was within her power to theoretically stop the villain before he blew up the police officer, the least she could do was get revenge.

I guess that is one of the biggest draws for me when it comes to video games; unlike books, movies and TV shows, video games are the one medium that let me (the player) take direct action and an effect on the game world. This was the same draw for me into the world of Role-Playing Games when I was younger. Whether I was a Fighter, a Vampire or a cyborg-dwarf Shadowrunner, I could do things in the game that would have consequences.

It’s funny, but in a way I feel pretty good about my daughter’s reaction; I mean, sure she brutally beat a (virtual) guy and then threw a grenade on him for good measure, but the part I’m talking about is the fact that when she saw something that she found unacceptable, she did something about it. It makes me feel (virtually) proud.