War and Modernity

Create an individual posts by Wednesday by following the discussions below, then through replies to other's posts develop a group response that reflects the contributions of your group members and make a group response post by the end of Friday.     Your group response should answer the questions more comprehensively than your individual posts as you have had greater opportunities to develop a more complete answer with your group.     If the question asks for a specific example do not use an example that one of your peers has already used.

First, listen to the interview with Harvard Professor Steven Pinker.   For those who are hearing impaired, please use the captioned option located at the bottom right of the video.   Sometimes the captions on Youtube can go a little wrong, so if anything is unclear feel free to contact me with any questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG0BpS6AUZ4

Here is an additional interview for those who want additional material. Since this video does not have captions, it is not required for this discussion.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/400079/october-18-2011/steven-pinker

The introduction to chapter four lists the many horrors of the 20th century, claiming in no uncertain terms that war was more lethal than any time in human history.   The chapter later states that many experts believe we live in one of the most profound eras of peace in human history.   The statistics of war deaths are undeniable, so how are these two ideas compatible?