I agree with using a percentage of the world population, though.
If you look at it in terms of what percentage of people are acting non-violently towards each other, 90% of the population being peaceful versus 99.98% seems to show a clear positive movement.
It not only shows that, as a whole, we are more capable of being non-violent, it also provides more opportunities for people to move away from violent situations into peaceful ones.
I'm open to criticism of Pinker, but I don't think this article proves that Pinker's position is totally flawed.
If you look at it in terms of what percentage of people are acting non-violently towards each other, 90% of the population being peaceful versus 99.98% seems to show a clear positive movement.
It not only shows that, as a whole, we are more capable of being non-violent, it also provides more opportunities for people to move away from violent situations into peaceful ones.
I'm open to criticism of Pinker, but I don't think this article proves that Pinker's position is totally flawed.