Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Not-Quite-Science Forum Violence is decreasing

As one of my current non-physics I reads I did "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined" by Steven Pinker.

Not a bad read and quite interesting if you dont have time for the book worth a read of his website (http://edge.org/conversation/mc2011-history-violence-pinker)

I did laugh at one of the comments about the old kingston trio ditty

I haven't seen the book, or the web site, but I did see the "Skeptic" article in the October 2011 Scientific American. I suppose the writer had been reading Pinker's book. Any way I found it to be quite interesting, because it pointed out that there has been a large decline in violence over the past few hundred years. I hadn't realized just how much change there had been.

Of course that doesn't mean that we don't need to keep on working on making it better.

Bill Gill

Yeah and Pinker says that doesn't mean its going to get lower or better just it ahs at the moment.

Violence will continue to be a major factor in society while parents continue to teach their children that violence is a legitimate teaching aid!!!

No, I didn't say ALL parents!

Dear me, how can it be true?
It's not religion, I think, do you?

It’s not religion, I would surely say,
It just reflects the violence of the day,
And violence of a verbal kind may come,
If Preearth, and if Bryan join the fray.

So let us post with thoughts of agape,
And thus, within the Reverend’s dictums stay,
And on all ridicule and taunting so be dumb
That “violence” from our threads may stay away.

Though Kallog’s wit may truly acid be,
And Orac often post a link – or three,
Though Bill and Bill present their logic clear;
I have to say: it’s always “Greek” to me.

Though one’s verse may not be up to par,
And posting rubbish may not get you far,
It must be said, my latest bit of trash
Has caused me to become a “megastar”.

Can I be forgiven if I promise to stop now?

LOL! Glad to see someone enjoying the milieu!
Thanks for the verse,
I have seen worse.

Thank GOD Bill S was nice and terse!

Or as Spike Migan would say

Litte rabbits, eye full of puss
A liite victum, of scientific us.

Why would you thank "him" if you never ask for anything???

Make yer mind up Rev.

Poetic license. BTW, GOD is a principle, not a "him"!

So it's a principle, a him it's not
To Rev I don't demur.
Besides, this riddle was begot:
If it's him, who's her?

So he is she --is that the call?
Maybe god is principal after all!

Principal? Ellis, I assume this is a typo, right? I assume you do not mean that god is a 'principal'--a person, one who is most important, a main character, a chief, one who, like the God of theism and deism, gives orders based on creeds and doctrines.

GOD AS PRINCIPLE
Keep in mind that I write as one who accepts the basic principles of unitheism (a doublet of panentheism--see Wikipedia). That is, I think of --and note that I write it here using periods to obviate anyone thinking that I have in mind a god with a being-like deity and with a name. GOD as a principle, a truth--whether found in philosophy, science, art, whatever--is a foundation for other truths.

THE ROOTS OF EVIL AND/OR GOOD
Making no claim that I am infallible, I think of the universe as an infinite and eternal supply of knowledge, wisdom, energy and power. Of themselves, KWEP are, IN MY OPINION, neutral.

THE FUEL OF EVIL
How KWEP are used by us is what produces the things we experience as evil--pain, suffering and premature death. Evil gets a lot of its fuel from our desire to be neutral and our being afraid to take action. Evil also gets fuel from our apathy, our sloth and our being willing to remain ignorant.

THE FUEL OF GOODNESS
GOD as personal and public good get their fuel from people--the more the better--who say:

I am, therefore I have the power to think and the will (agape-love) to choose, to know and to understand that which is wise, good and true--for me and my community. I open myself to the energy, knowledge and wisdom that will flow, come and empower me, and others with me, to get done that which is good, opportune and desirable.

Add your own thoughts.

dict.def---'principal'-----most important, consequential or influential.
Surely an appropriate description of god.

or to put it another way---

Principal or principle-
Which best describes god?
Possibly the both of them,
Which is really rather odd!

Unitheists I try to avoid using anthropomorphic words--for example, words like king, lord, school master, father and the like--that cause us to picture 'god' as a human-like and masculine being, one with dimensions.

This is why I do not blame agnostics and atheists who refuse to give any credence that there is such an objective and supernatural being keeping his eyes on us all the time. Even most modern theists no longer think of a god with dimensions. Thus they will use terms like spirit. Jesus told the Samaritan woman: "God is Spirit." (John 4.)

A potential way to decrease violence and save money:
http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases...mu-study-shows/