Probably Hobbes got it right when he said that a leviathan, a third party with a monopoly on the use of legitimate use of force in a territory, might be among the biggest violence reduction techniques ever invented.
Steven PinkerLike the early days of the Internet, the dawn of personal genomics promises benefits and pitfalls that no one can foresee.
Steven PinkerEveryone's pedigree merges into everyone else's pedigree. So if you go back far enough, everyone is related.
Steven PinkerIf you give people literacy, bad ideas can be attacked and experiments tried, and lessons will accumulate.
Steven Pinker