2 related questions

How many total deaths were there in the 20th century and what
percentage of these were caused by deliberate acts of violence by
other humans? (including murder, warfare and other conflict)

How does the total percentage of deaths caused by deliberate acts of
violence by other humans in the 20th century compare to that of other
centuries?

Note: 
I am asking this question simply out of curiosity so am only offering
the minimum price for the answer. I hope we will all benefit
intellectually from the answer

---

Request for Question Clarification by answerfinder-ga on 11 Jul 2004 07:57 PDT

Dear augusta-ga,
I do not think it is possible to answer your two questions in their
entirety. In the absence of reliable statistics (especially before the
20th century,) any numbers are estimates and open to criticism. I can
direct you to a site where a person has attempted to make such
calculations, and where possible, they show the source of this
information. Many of the death statistics relate to war, genocide and
religious persecution, but not murder in the criminal, everyday life
sense of the word. Therefore the site does not necessarily answer your
question in full. They do make an attempt to compare the 20th centruy
with previous centuries.
Would you accept a link to the site as an answer to your question?
answerfinder-ga

---

Clarification of Question by augusta-ga on 11 Jul 2004 08:38 PDT

Thank you for your prompt response. 

I would like to encourage further comments, so am reluctant to accept
that link  as an answer so early on. I suspect that once the question
is marked answered there will be less interest in it.

I will consider it acceptable if nothing more complete is put forward
before July 18th.

Thanks.

Here's a guess ...

Total Violent = 50 million < 1%

Grand Total = 10 billion = 100%

Other Centuries = About the same %-wise

OK? ... Well it is only a guess.

I thought of this question while listening to Tolle Eckhart's The
Power of Now on MP3 downloaded from kazaa.

He claims that the 20th century saw 100 million killings of humans by
other humans, his main point being that the 20th century was marked by
a higher than normal degree of mass insanity.

Because of the population boom during that same century I would
consider the percentage of deaths caused by deliberate human violence,
and not the quantity, to be the real indicator of mass madness level.

Would you consider abortion as part of the count? In some circles
abortion and euthenasia are considered to be as bad as other so-called
wanton disregard for human life.

Personally, I consider 100Million to be a very very low number for all
of the 20th century. Especially since
http://www.ibiblio.org/lunarbin/worldpop considers there to have
gained 3 Billion people since 1/1/1970.

augusta-ga, what would be criteria to choose for human on human
violence, anyway? Would it also include executions? Homicide?

My criteria for human on human violence is deliberateness (not
accidental). I would also include such indirect deaths as when people
died because of diseases arising from their sewage system or drinking
supply being deliberately sabotaged (as appeares to be going on in
Palestine now).

I think abortion, homicide and executions should also should be
included. (I can see how values start to affect the numbers here.) As
societies become healthier and less mad there will be less unwanted
pregnacies and less crime, so abortions and exectutions would be an
indicator of mass madness.