I know that there is a lot going on and there is a perception that the world is a more chaotic and dangerous place. I have been arguing for some time that this perception is skewed by the sheer quantity and accessibility of information that is available now, all the time. I think that you could nominate many years over the last hundred years (excluding the World Wars, to be fair) and find any number of them in which the totality of violent and disruptive events equal or exceed the present moment. If you add in the information revolution and the myriad social media to any one such year, you would probably get much hand-wringing and head-shaking about the volatility of the times.

That said, it does feel like something different is afoot, though that may be more to do with the violence against Western nations on the home front, a more recent phenomenon. Something atavistic does seem to confronting modern notions and paradigms, something that we thought was lost ages ago. In truth, you only have to look to the death camps of Nazi Germany to see that while technology has advanced apace, human psychology is still tied to a primal past.