Bill Gates announces "the best book I have read in the past 10 years", and what is the "eternal favorite" chosen?

"We are living the most peaceful time in human history"Stephen PinkerMr. "Human history of violence"Mr. Bill Gates has introduced" I have never seen a book that clearly wrote about the progress of progress ". Reader Gates introduces "Especially interested books read during that year", but about human history of violence is "the best you read in the past ten years", "This year's It is not "rather than" an eternal book "".

My new favorite book of all time | Bill Gates
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Enlightenment-Now

"The Better Angels of Our Nature" recommended by Gates was published in 2011 and is translated as "human history of violence" in Japan. In recent years, many news of terrorism and war have been reported, but "history of humanity of violence" is a productive evidence / statistical discussion that "violence has been consistently decreasing through human history" Things stacked up and discussed.

What Gates wrote as "My Favorite Facts Shown in the Book" is the following five points.

· The probability of death by lightning strike was lower than at the beginning of the 20th century
This is because the number of lightning strikes is not reduced, improvement of weather forecasting ability, improvement of safety education, and people living in urban areas away from the surrounding forests susceptible to lightning strikes.


· In 1920, the time spent on washing was 11 and a half hours a week, but it reached an hour and a half in 2014
Although this sounds like an insignificant thing from a historical point of view, the appearance of a washing machine increased the free time of people, especially women, and improved the quality of life. People can read books or start a new business with free time.

· I am less likely to die during work
In recent years, about 5000 people died while working in the US, but 20 thousand people per year died in 1929. People of those days saw "to die in the workplace" as "a part of the" sacrifice "that occurs in the work", but now various ways to avoid danger have been devised.

· Global average IQ is rising by 3 points in 10 years
Children are developing the brain by improving the living environment and improving nutrition. Mr. Pinker feels the importance of analytical thinking and that people can be smarter by doing abstract thinking from childhood.

·Illegalization of war
There are a few exceptions, but the existence of international sanctions and mediators has proven to be effective in deterring war between nations.

The content of the book is touched also in the interview between Mr. Pincha and Mr. Gates.

Bill Gates & amp; Steven Pinker Discuss Enlightenment Now - YouTube


A man in the photo is Ms. Pincha. I am doing research as a professor of psychology at Harvard University.


Even if you cut out only some periods, hunger has declined sharply from 1990 to 2015.


Infant mortality rate ......


Death rates are decreasing in various fields such as car death accident.


Mr. Gates's interest is "The reality is getting better, people's view is pessimistic, there is a gap there." It is said that why do people think that "the past was nice" and "the future will get worse" although the actual data shows that "the present is getting better from the past".


"As a psychologist, for me it's quite interesting," Pinker said. It is explained that this is because two kinds of "the nature of news" and "the nature of cognition" cause a chemical reaction.


In other words, the news tells "what has happened", not "what did not happen". Therefore, it is not news that "hunger has decreased on Tuesday in March".


According to Mr. Pinker, everything is a matter of ideas. "The universe does not care about us, weEntropyIt follows the law of. The things break, the living things evolve. "


"The problem is pile-up, but if you understand how the world is moving, people improve and you gradually succeed, it will be popular among intellectuals of the 21st century" How to view progress " You should be able to see a different view from the fact that the facts indicate that it is progressing little by little. "


As for the argument about why we stick to negative news and become pessimistic, although violence is consistently decreasingHans · RosslingMr"Factfulness"Mr. Gates wrote that he is arguing in his book. About this book "We plan to review soon" and that.

On the other hand, for artificial intelligence, Mr. Pinker's idea is "a little optimistic," Gates said. Mr. Pika does not seem to have the idea of ​​"overturning human beings that make robots". "I do not think" we are in the danger like a terminator ", but I think that it is appropriate to embrace the horror of" under who is controlling a robot "underlying it. It is not that time, but at some point, "Who controls AI and who controls it" will be a problem to be solved by international organizations, "Gates said.

At Amazon, you can purchase articles from about 4,500 yen both top and bottom.

On the History of Humanity in Violence | Stephen Pinker, Sachiko Ishihara, Toshinobu Shiobara | Books | mail order | Amazon


An easy-to-understand customer review looks something like this.

Why did violence diminish

Civil war in Africa, terrorism by extremist groups, murderous murder by minors. When I touch such news on a daily basis, I think how cruel the current world is, how horrible violence is full of it. However, according to Steven Pinker, author of this book, the violence is historically decreasing. Moreover, it is not that it is decreasing. It is decreasing on any time scale of thousands of years, hundreds of years, and decades, and various forms of violence are decreasing from war to corporal punishment. Pinker says at the beginning of this statement, refusing "It is an incredible story." "Human violence has declined for a long time, and today we may be living in the most peaceful era since the appearance of mankind on the ground" (Volume 11, first volume).
Stephen Pinker is a world-renowned researcher with a proven track record in psychology and linguistics. Also, its genius is well-known, and it is producing hit works such as "instinct to create language" and "to think human nature" (both NHK Books). This book is a masterpiece that such a talented person challenged the theme "history of violence".

You can also read detailed reviews on the following pages.

Book review "The Better Angels of Our Nature" - book reviews centered on shorebird evolutionary psychology
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/shorebird/20130109