If the world refuses to listen to the Mayan doomsayers on December 21 then 2012 many go down as the best year in humanity’s history (hopefully 2013 will be better). Most people are well aware that mainstream media is excellent at espousing doom and gloom, which may be why you’re reading this website. Well, despite the fact that there are very real environmental problems that still need to be addressed, overall, we’re doing OK as a species.
War has historically been humanity’s biggest killer. But in most of the world today, a generation is growing up that knows little of it. The Peace Research Institute in Oslo says there have been fewer war deaths in the last decade than any time in the last century. Whether we are living through an anomalous period of peace, or whether the risk of nuclear apocalypse has proved an effective deterrent, mankind seems no longer to be its own worst enemy. We must bear in mind that things can fall apart, and quickly. Germany was perhaps the most civilised nation in the world in the 1920s. For now, though, it is worth remembering that, in relative terms, we have peace in our time.