Does our rate of increasing intelligence correspond directly with humanity's general appreciation for life? Or has every generation asked this same question? I just feel like if a "World War III" ever happens, there will never be another DDay.
I'm not sure what you mean by "increasing intelligence", sounds a little Whiggish but maybe I misunderstand
I don't even know how we are expected to quantify this. You say that you don't know if war would have another D Day but if we look at the trend of wars in the 19th and 20th centuries have gotten distinctly more deadly not less.
Yes there has been less total war but that has more to do politics then some abstract concept of caring more for human life. Yes if you restrict yourself solely to Western military action in the past 50 years there has been a distinct decrease in casualties but that has more to do with the increased sophistication of their forces versus the relative lack of sophistication of their enemies. If you look at wars everywhere else that brutality still exists. I think it's very contrived to look at a world without total war which has a slew of reasons and try to force this one abstract concept.
I'm not sure how social media existing would somehow preclude major invasions needing to be performed, but that's breaking the 20 years rule.
I'm currently in the middle of Steven Pinker's "Better Angels of Our Nature", which covers precisely this topic (and more) in exhaustive, rigorous detail, in both breadth and depth. So far I'm really, really enjoying it.
I am, however, not too aware of how well-regarded it is by historians (I know that one of my favorite nonfiction books as a teenager, Guns Germs & Steel, gets some mixed reviews on this sub). Does anyone know of any issues with the book? If not, I would highly recommend it, OP.