Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond
Jared Mason Diamondis an American scientist and author best known for his popular science books The Third Chimpanzee; Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; and The World Until Yesterday. Originally trained in physiology, Diamond is known for drawing from a variety of fields, including anthropology, ecology, geography and evolutionary biology. As of 2013, he is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles...
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth10 September 1937
CityBoston, MA
technology adopted
Technology has to be invented or adopted.
conflict humans human-history
Much of human history has consisted of unequal conflicts between the haves and the have-nots.
reflection two long
Two types of choices seem to me to have been crucial in tipping the outcomes [of the various societies' histories] towards success or failure: long-term planning and willingness to reconsider core values. On reflection we can also recognize the crucial role of these same two choices for the outcomes of our individual lives.
unique evolution biology
Biology is the science. Evolution is the concept that makes biology unique.
natal enormous crops
The southward advance of native African farmers with Central African crops halted in Natal, beyond which Central African crops couldn't grow - with enormous consequences for the recent history of South Africa.
simplicity consistency complicated
History as well as life itself is complicated -- neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency.
social uncomfortable considering
We're uncomfortable about considering history as a science. It's classified as a social science, which is considered not quite scientific.
easter ocean islands
The metaphor is so obvious. Easter Island isolated in the Pacific Ocean — once the island got into trouble, there was no way they could get free. There was no other people from whom they could get help. In the same way that we on Planet Earth, if we ruin our own [world], we won't be able to get help.
collapse drag environmental friendly itself problems runs societies trade
If one of those friendly societies itself runs into environmental problems and collapses for environmental reasons, that collapse may then drag down their trade partners.
alarm cost false hawaii tsunami
I read that a false alarm of a tsunami in Hawaii would cost about $68 million.
depended europeans form outcome partly reached technology
How is it that Pizarro and Cortes reached the New World at all, before Aztec and Inca conquistadors could reach Europe? That outcome depended partly on technology in the form of oceangoing ships. Europeans had such ships, while the Aztecs and Incas did not.
acre american-author animals calories far per plants species wild yield
Domesticated plants and animals yield far more calories per acre than do wild habitats, in which most species are inedible to humans.
animals domestic farmer land letting manure till
Domestic animals revolutionized land transport. They also revolutionized agriculture, by letting one farmer plough and manure much more land than the farmer could till or manure by the farmer's own efforts.
agonizing allow case certainly deal eat faces fish held hunt seals similar states sustained ultimately united values
The Norse held values that would not allow them to deal with... pagans and certainly would not let them eat fish and hunt ringed seals the way these pagans did. So here is a case where the values that sustained them for 450 years ultimately killed them. The United States faces similar agonizing reappraisals today.