Episode synopsis

Recorded live in front of 3,000 attendees at Axon Week in Nashville, hosts Mike Wagers and Rick Smith sit down with Harvard cognitive psychologist Dr. Steven Pinker — author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and his latest book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.

Pinker has spent decades arguing what the headlines rarely tell you: violence has been declining for centuries, and policing has played a central role in making it happen. He traces the long arc from medieval Europe — where disputes were settled with steel — to the rise of the modern state's "monopoly on the legitimate use of force," and explains why homicide rates in major U.S. cities just hit historic lows in 2025, even as academia resists giving police credit. His message to leaders is simple: build your understanding of crime on data, not headlines.

The conversation also turns to technology and accountability. Drawing on his latest book, Pinker explains "common knowledge" — the moment everyone knows that everyone else knows — and how body cameras, doorbell cameras, and bystander video have transformed policing by turning private knowledge into shared, public knowledge. Rick Smith also reflects on how Pinker's research inspired his own book, The End of Killing.

A rare, evidence-driven look at why the world is safer than it feels — and the indispensable role policing plays in keeping it that way.