According to SIPRI (the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), 25,600 combatants and civilians were killed as a direct result of armed conflicts last year. While that may seem like a high number of lives lost, consider the nearly 500,000 people killed annually in violent crimes and the over 1 million people killed in automobile accidents every year. This actually shows a decline in the number of war casualties. Economist and SFI Resident Professor Samuel Bowles has researched hundreds of hunter-gatherer societies and concludes that 14 percent of deaths in those societies were caused by war and other violent acts. While a recent study estimates that all the wars and genocides of the 20th century account for less than 3 percent of all deaths worldwide. Perhaps this trend will continue and we may see peace around the world.