Are Humans Living in the Most Peaceful Time of History?

“Currently, we are living in the most peaceful time in history,” researchers, scientists, historians, and countless people globally argue. Harvard University psychologist and psycholinguist, Steven Pinker in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, stated that we are now living in the most peaceful era ever in the history of homo sapiens. According to Pinker, humans throughout history have succeeded in the mass reduction of violence, which enabled the establishment of the most peaceful era in human history. He metaphorically illustrates this phenomenon, that “our inner demons were restrained” whereas “our better angels were unleashed”.

However, is it possible to argue that humans are at the highest level of achievable peace since the history of existence? For instance, politics - one of society’s most active topics of discussion - proves the best examples to debunk this belief. If one asks what kind of impression politics has - peaceful, or a field of violence, many may answer that it is similar to the latter.
Furthermore, two recent outbreak of global war allows us to doubt the better angels that are said to have been unleashed. After the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, as marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, violence has exponentially increased in number but has also intensified its degree. Domestic and individual violence such as rape and sexual assaults have escalated significantly in the frequency of reports. Most recently, the Israel-Hamas War, which is resulting and continuing its contribution to uprising violence in the world by methods of sacrificing civilians including young children, inhumane massacres, and more. The continuous reports of violence from various wars around the world question the argument of whether humanitarianism was ever achieved.

Are humans truly living in the most peaceful era of history? Should this contemporary era be said to be the most peaceful, when people are still abusing, verbally attacking, and initiating a war against each other? While it is truly disappointing that historians have come to a consensus that over the centuries of warfare and dispute, the current era is considered to be the most peaceful, this may be an area of growth for people of modern times. For the future generations to be newly labeled as the most peaceful times, how can the current society thrive to achieve a step closer to true peace?