a sign of hope.

OK. I exercise six or seven days per week, and when I don't ride for at least 20 miles, my routine consists of a series of indoor exercises. Exercise, as you're probably aware, is immensely boring, and to pass the time, I download various podcasts to listen to during the ordeal.

One of the podcasts I get is Steven Pollie's 7th Avenue Project, a production of KUSP radio (which also produces another of my regular exercise podcasts, GeekSpeak [and yes, The Excellent Wife (TEW) and I do support KUSP financially]).

I'm several weeks behind in listening to some of these podcasts, and the one I heard today is about a book by Steven Pinker called The Better Angels of Our Nature:

In the book, Pinker provides statistical evidence that, over the course of history, human violence is dropping. He brings in murder, war, torture -- even care for animals, and he points out that even the huge death toll of the Second World War, while an outlier, is not outside statistical explanation. (There's even a distant reference to one of my favorite pet obsessions, Dunbar's Number.)

I know that few of you check out most of these outgoing links, but this was cool. It's an hour-long podcast, and it's available either for streaming or for download. I found it fascinating... and hopeful.