Narrator: In 1991, hikers in the Alps stumbled upon a frozen corpse. Initially believed to be a modern mountaineer, the body, nicknamed Ötzi the Iceman, was soon revealed to be over 5,000 years old. But this was no peaceful death. Forensic analysis uncovered a flint arrowhead lodged in his back, evidence of a deep gash on his hand, and the blood of two other people on his gear. Ötzi was the victim of a violent attack, a prehistoric murder mystery. This single, ancient crime scene hints at a brutal reality we often forget: the past was a far more violent place. We are conditioned by news headlines and popular culture to believe we live in uniquely dangerous times, but what if this perception is completely wrong?

In his groundbreaking work, The Better Angels of Our Nature, author and psychologist Steven Pinker presents a radical, data-driven argument that challenges our deepest intuitions. He contends that we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species’ existence. The book is a monumental exploration of why, despite our fears, violence has been in a long, dramatic decline.

Narrator: Pinker’s central thesis is that violence, on scales large and small, has been steadily decreasing over millennia. This idea feels wrong because of what psychologists call the availability heuristic; our minds overestimate the likelihood of vivid, easily recalled events, and nothing is more vivid than violence. The 24-hour news cycle amplifies this, creating a perception of constant crisis.

However, the data tells a different story. Archaeological and ethnographic studies reveal the shocking lethality of pre-state societies. For instance, the average rate of violent death in non-state societies like hunter-gatherer bands was approximately 15% of all deaths. In some, like the Jivaro of Ecuador, it was as high as 60%. By contrast, even with two World Wars, the 20th century saw a violent death rate of less than 1% of the world's population. The transition from anarchy to civilization, while introducing its own problems, marked the first major drop in our species’ history of violence.

Narrator: The first great decline in violence was driven by the rise of the state, a process Pinker calls the Pacification Process. Drawing on the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Pinker argues that life in a "state of nature" is a trap. Without a central authority, individuals are locked in a cycle of competition for resources, fear of preemptive attack, and a constant need to maintain a reputation for violent retaliation.

The creation of a "Leviathan," a state with a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, changes this calculus. When a government can punish aggressors, the incentive to attack others for personal gain diminishes. It defuses the need for preemptive strikes and eliminates the endless cycles of revenge that plague tribal societies. While early states were often brutal and tyrannical, they offered a crucial trade-off: citizens gave up the right to private vengeance in exchange for a dramatic increase in safety from their neighbors.

Narrator: The second major decline occurred in Europe, beginning in the late Middle Ages. Homicide rates, which were astronomically high, began a steep and steady fall that continues to this day. In 14th-century Oxford, the murder rate was over 100 times higher than in modern London. Pinker attributes this to what sociologist Norbert Elias termed the "Civilizing Process."

As feudal territories consolidated into larger kingdoms with centralized governments, the warrior nobility lost their autonomy. Knights who once lived by raiding and plunder had to adapt to life in the royal court, becoming courtiers. This new environment demanded greater self-control, long-term thinking, and consideration for others. Simultaneously, the rise of commerce created a positive-sum game where other people became more valuable alive as customers and trading partners than dead as vanquished foes. This shift cultivated empathy and restraint, civilizing daily life and making impulsive violence socially unacceptable.

Narrator: Beginning in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment sparked a "Humanitarian Revolution." This was a movement to abolish forms of violence that were socially sanctioned, such as slavery, torture, witch hunts, and cruel punishments. For centuries, these practices were not just tolerated but were considered just and necessary.

The revolution was fueled by new ways of thinking. The rise of literacy and the novel, particularly the epistolary novel where stories are told through letters, allowed people to inhabit the minds of others. This expanded circle of empathy made it harder to ignore the suffering of those outside one's immediate tribe. Thinkers like Cesare Beccaria argued against torture and the death penalty not just on moral grounds, but on rational ones, showing they were ineffective deterrents. This combination of reason and empathy began to dismantle institutions of cruelty that had stood for centuries.

Narrator: After the devastation of World War II, the world entered a period that historians call "The Long Peace." For the first time in modern history, the world's great powers and developed nations stopped waging war on one another. This was driven by several factors, including the terrifying deterrent of nuclear weapons, the spread of democracy (which rarely fight each other), and the growth of international trade and organizations that foster cooperation.

Following the end of the Cold War in 1989, this trend accelerated into what Pinker dubs "The New Peace." Since then, organized conflicts of all kinds—interstate wars, civil wars, and genocides—have all declined. While terrorism grabs headlines, its death toll is a fraction of that from traditional warfare. This peace is fragile, but the data shows a clear, downward trend in large-scale, organized killing.

Narrator: Pinker argues that violence is not a single, monolithic urge. Instead, it stems from several distinct psychological systems, our "inner demons." These include predatory violence (using violence as a means to an end), dominance (the urge for status and power), revenge (the moralistic drive for retribution), sadism (the enjoyment of suffering), and ideology (the belief that a greater good justifies violence).

Fortunately, human nature also equips us with countervailing motives, our "better angels." These are empathy (the ability to feel others' pain), self-control (the capacity to inhibit impulses), the moral sense (a suite of norms that govern communities), and reason (the ability to think abstractly and objectively). The decline of violence is the story of how historical circumstances have increasingly favored our better angels over our inner demons.

Narrator: The final piece of the puzzle is identifying the external forces that have given our better angels the upper hand. Pinker identifies five: the Leviathan, commerce, feminization (the increasing respect for women's interests), and cosmopolitanism (exposure to other cultures and ideas).

Perhaps the most important is what he calls the "Escalator of Reason." As societies become more literate, educated, and connected, people are increasingly forced to reason about their place in the world. Reason allows us to recognize the futility of cycles of violence, to see the interchangeability of our own interests with others', and to reframe violence not as a contest to be won, but as a problem to be solved. This intensifying application of knowledge and rationality is a powerful force for peace, pushing humanity toward a less violent future.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from The Better Angels of Our Nature is that progress is a real, measurable phenomenon. The world has not fallen into a state of moral decay; rather, it has become demonstrably less cruel and more humane. This progress is not a miracle, nor is it guaranteed to continue. It is the result of specific historical developments—the rise of government, commerce, and reason—that have successfully constrained our worst impulses.

By understanding what we have done right, we can work to ensure these trends continue. Instead of asking the old question, "Why is there war?", Pinker challenges us to ask a new one: "Why is there peace?" Answering that question is the most critical intellectual and moral project of our time, for it holds the key to building an even better world.