in fact be careful about associating with steven pinker.e careful about signing his books because you might be next. you were asked earlier point i'd like to come back to. about the asymmetries and differences of these two types of attacks on the reality-based war. and i'd like to mention a few . one of them gets directly to your place in academia. when people ask me which of the two i worry about more, i'm more worried about the attacks from disinformation because it's essentially seized control of an entire political party. the republican party is now unfortunately this sounds partisan, i don't think it is and it's just an observation take it or leave it. i think the republican party is operating as a propaganda it's led by an authoritarian who has developed take cult of personality and this is a very very dangerous thing in a democracy where there are only two parties. it comes closer to power than i think any of the other threatshe right now. but there's a different kind of menace that's also quite seriously which i think you just allud

they are warning people don't even think about agreeing with steven pinker. in fact be careful about associating with steven pinker, be careful about citing his books because you might be next. you asked earlier a point i would like to come back to because it is germane to this, about the assem -- about the asymme asymmetries. when people ask me about which of the two i worry about more, i'm more worried about the attack from disinformation because it's essentially seizes control of an entire political party, of which we only have two. the republican party now unfortunately, this sounds partisan, i don't think it is. this is an observation. take it or leave it. i think the republican party is operating as a propaganda organization, led by an authoritarian who has developed a cult personality. this is a very very dangerous thing in a democracy where there are only two parties. this comes closer to power than i think any of the other threats right now. but there's a different kind of menace that's also quite serious, which i think you just alluded to, in cancel

they are saying don't even think of it agreeing with steven pinker.areful about even associating yourself. be careful about signing his books because you might be next. you asked earlier about a point i would like to come back to on the asymmetries and differences of the two types of attacks on the reality-based community. and i would like to mention a few because one of them gets directly to your place in academia.ac me which of the two i worry about more it's more from the disinformation because essentially it seized control of an entire political party of which we have only two. the republican party it sounds partisan. i don't think it is i think it is just an observation. i think the republican party is operating as the propaganda led by an authoritarian who was developed the call to personality. this is a very dangerous thing in a democracy where there's only two parties and this comes closer to power of and i think any of the other threats right now. but there's a different kind of menace that's also quite serious which i think you just eluded t

. >> steven pinker advanced a thesis that we are becoming less violent as an species. i'm skeptical about this myself. as i say i live with small children so violence is a constant in my life. if he is right, what are the implications for war? might we turn to drones and artificial intelligence as a way of hiding violence or will we become past? >> it is hard to predict. i think the distinctions, pinker talks about how societies in the developed part of the world have become less violent and willing to tolerate things like public education and unusual to see people fighting in the streets. what is less likely to go to war. the individual is going to commit, they spend a lot of time around ordinary people. training, inculcation of values make a huge difference in the willingness of people to fight. >> your discussion of how organized violence begins when hunter gatherers were replaced by cultural groups. expand on that for a moment. >> it is highly speculative, never get definitive evidence but it seems hunter gatherers were -- a fair degree of violence, people did kill

. >> particularly steven pinker has an advance piece that's becoming less violent as a species.i am skeptical about this myself. but as i said i live for small children so violence is more or less constant in my life. might return to drones in artificial intelligence as a way of hiding violence. or will? we actually become pessimist? >> i don't know. it's very hard to m predict. pinker talks about how society and that felt part of the world there are less willing to tolerate violence in the streets. it's not unusual to see people fighting in the streets and ways of not perhaps as much now except perhaps the northern island for the moment. again the individual feels like. i think one of the things the military do is spend it off a lot of time learning how to turn ordinary people and to those who fight. that's why there's so much training and preparation. i think training with the values to make a huge difference on the willingness of people to fight. >> host: the marvelous things about this book is your discussion about organized violence begins when weather gatherers were placed

and she has a question about steven pickers book, but you've mentioned a few times in your book carol, at our asking several times in this book. you mentioned stephen pinker, on his book, the better angels of our nature, in which she argues that violence has declined in human societies throughout history. i wonder having written this book that focuses exclusively on war. what you think about that argument? are we listening to the better angels of our nature and becoming less violent? or are we saying the same more, or maybe even becoming more violent? i wonder what you think about myself. stephen, think his book is enormously challenging, and i think very important. but i would make a distinction, i've been thinking about it a lot since i've read it and i've read other books which, which take i take issue with him. and what i would say is that we may be becoming in some societies less prone to random violence or less prone to use violence in our everyday lives. we don't expect people to come outside pubs anymore and roll and we just approve of it. if that happens and it used to happen a lot more and we don't enjoy public executions or public displays of c