2012 21
Most of humanity woke up, had a normal day and went to sleep
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in Micro with No Comments
Do read this post that I have in Google+. It’s about humanity and how peaceful it is now compared to other times in our history. Concretely it’s about the declining rate of casualties of war and armed conflict over time since WWII. The rate of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants has been falling drastically. Then rejoice. Then read the comments and see the widespread skepticism about this good news. People just can’t believe that we are now living in remarkably peaceful times compared to what we have gone through. That the probability of a random human being of dying in war is lower than ever.
Still I believe in this news. I am happy that my children do not go through what my grandparents went through living in the time of WWII. I guess that one of the characteristics that distinguishes entrepreneurs who do well, myself included, and the general population is that we are more prone to believe in good news. We love good news. We celebrate good news. Most people seem programmed to like and believe in bad news. I guess a headline that read “Most of humanity woke up today, had a normal day and went to sleep” would not get a lot of attention. But it makes me happy.
Follow Martin Varsavsky on Twitter: twitter.com/martinvars
No Comments
Jonh on March 21, 2012 ·
changing the subject can i also add that FON is a incredibly thing 🙂 sure hope that endures a long time!!!!!! i sometimes feel that something that good will be prohibited in the future. Keep up the good work 😉 and ur thought awakening posts
Davide on March 21, 2012 ·
I think you misinterpreted the data. I had a quick look at the charts published by the Department of Peace and Conflict Research (I followed the link in your original google+ post), and most of them show that the active number of armed conflicts increased significantly over he years (by 2-3 times), with a peak around the 90s. I believe that the charts do not show the trend you described (i.e. humanity does not seem to be more peaceful than in the past).
Martin Varsavsky on March 21, 2012 ·
There’s a whole research Institute behind this work that is linked in my Google+.. In any case it is not contradictory to have more conflict and less death. That in itself is also good news.
Davide on March 21, 2012 ·
Yes, I cited the research institute you mention in my post. Anyway, my point is not that more conflicts and less deaths are contradictory, but that the conclusions you draw are not totally true. I’m not saying this because of whatever conspiracy theory, but because of (a quick look at) the information found on the UCDP website.
Doug on March 22, 2012 ·
Great post.
And to think that much of the thanks for our “peaceful present” goes to….nuclear weapons.
Perhaps it’s counterintuitive at first, but think about it. Nukes have essentially eliminated war between the great powers. Global war is now a thing of the past.
Sergio García on March 22, 2012 ·
It seems Davide noticed it but just didn’t told you: the link to your Google+ post is wrong, it’s directed to the “Flying Drones” post and not to the “List of Wars and Disasters” post.
Saludos..
Martin Varsavsky on March 22, 2012 ·
will fix it thanks
Adan on April 14, 2012 ·
Bad news sells; good news doesn’t…
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Jonh on March 21, 2012 ·
Martin, i´ve read ur post i know its true but u also have to realize something IT refers to mostly WARS. People in CIVIL life feel sometimes, by comparison with their fathers times that this day an age its much more violent than before. I young I don’t know, but ur post its about WAR, doesn’t touch the theme of CIVIL violence which is the one people knowdays complain.. GREAT WORK WITH FON im a TOTALLY satisfied costumer ;)!!!