First we had Steven Pinker writing about The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, with the thesis that we're getting more peaceful over time.
Now John Horgan has declared the potential for The End of War — that we have the ability to stop fighting and cooperate.
Horgan makes the point that human nature requires us to fight, and that many people make this fatalistic assumption that it cannot end. It's a reflection of the usual argument for futility that claims the status quo is thus because it must be so.
It's also the argument that is made to defend the inevitability of religious belief.
(Also on FtB)
More like this
Contrary to what some of my detractors think, I don’t mind criticism of my viewpoints. After all, if I never encounter criticism, how will I ever improve? On the other hand, there are forms of criticism that are what I would call less than constructive.
I'm happy to announce that the paperback edition of The Republican War on Science is a "Paperback Row" pick for this Sunday's Times book review.
I'm going to be appearing this weekend on the strangely addictive show bloggingheads.tv.
If you've been following the Bloggingheads site, you probably already know that the best thing on it is Science Saturday with John Horgan and George Johnson.