Jared Diamond to be in SF

Commonwealth Club, December 9.
His website.

Jared Diamond's Talk at the Commonwealth Club

Here - for his book The World Until Yesterday (mp3)

Paul Craig Roberts on the Limits of Nature to Economics

Nature’s Capital Is The Limiting Resource

Way ahead of other "conservative" or libertarian economists. He cites Jared Diamond's Collapse.

Wade Davis Reviews Jared Diamond's Latest

Here - Rod Dreher comments: The Value Of Cultural Relativism.

Jared Diamond, The World Until Yesterday

Penguin

I read an interview with Diamond in the United Airlines in-flight magazine. He talks about the modern Western way of war, which recognizes a moral distinction between combatants and non-combatants, contrasting them with certain traditional societies which have no hesitation to kill children.

The doctrine of limited warfare arose gradually in the West and was precipiated by Christianity? Destroy an entire society was not unknown to the Jews, though it has been questioned by contemporary Christians and scholars whether this was actually ordered by God or not. It seems that one pattern was to kill all the males while females were taken captive. Does Diamond remark upon the impact of Christianity on our conduct of war? Or did this merely happen as a result of "progress" or "civilization"?

He also compares the members of "traditional" societies with our vets who suffer ptsd. The former suffer no ill effects, no hesitation to kill. How does this square with Dave Grossman's contention that we have a natural aversion to killing another human being? What sort of rituals and psychological mechanisms are present in traditional societies that facilitate the taking of human lives in war? And how is the inclination to kill developed and enhanced? Is the lack of a hesitation a sign of nature, or "second nature," habit acquired through training? Perhaps Diamond goes into greater depth in his comparison and analysis within the book.



NPR interview
UCLA Magazine
Live on Earth
On Point with Tom Ashbrook
Guardian
KUOW News
'Collapse' in Congress: Lawmakers should learn from tribal elders

More philosophy masquerading as "anthropology"? Sure, there is data - observations being reported, but what of the interpretation that is in the judgments made in observing and the subsequent interpretations made when the observations are reviewed and taken as a whole? How well can an outsider understand a different culture, without becoming a part of it, learning its language, and so on? Anthropologists do learn the language, but is this sufficient?


More of Jared Diamond:
How Societies Fail - And Sometimes Succeed
The Evolution of Religions
another interview

Lt. Col. Grossman on Glenn Beck: How do we stop the next Sandy Hook? Glenn talks with Dave Grossman about gun violence in schools


Paul Howe, Second Amendment and the Kool-Aid Drinkers

Misc:
Of course they have to include several women: Buzzfeed - 10 Modern Military Heroes You Should Know About

Two take on Jared Diamond's op-ed piece in the NYT: Sharon Astyk and Stephanie McMillian. Now, his op-ed piece may not imply anything about the soudness of his arguments in his books, but does it say something about his character?

Jared Diamond on The Evolution of Religions


I'd probably disagree with this even more than with some of his historical theses regarding collapse and growth. No time to sit through it right now... Diamond is not noted as an authority on anthropology (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but what sort of theories is he spinning?

His faculty page.

From 2005: Jared Diamond - How Societies Fail-And Sometimes Succeed - Long Now Foundation

Jared Diamond on why societies collapse

Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel

While at Barnes and Noble yesterday afternoon, I saw both this book and Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed on display. (See also this post.) Apparently Guns, Germs, and Steel was turned into a three-part PBS series. Since I don't have time to read the book, perhaps the tv series would suffice--does the BC library have a copy?

Within the study of history, there is certainly room for making the connection between the impact of our practices on the ecology, and the connection between our way of life, politics, and the survivability of a political community. On the other hand, some have argued that this book is a bit simplistic, in so far as it attempts to reduce the explanation of European ascendancy to food cultivation and production and so on, and ultimately to geography, which explains differences in the distribution of various species. As I have not read the book, I can't say if this is an accurate representation of the book's arguments.


WM Norton page for Guns, Germs, and Steel
PBS page for the tv series; wired.com article
A summary and review by Michael McGoodwin
Steve Sailer's review (another)
Inside Higher Ed: "Guns, Germs, and Steel Reconsidered"

Jared Diamond
UCLA School of Medicine page; UCLA Dept. of Geography page
Interviews: The Paula Gordon Show; American Scientist Online; Nova interview; Sierra Club; Salon.com; National Academy of the Sciences; NPQ; bookbrowse; "The Thought Leader Interview"; KPFT [mp3]; Christianity Today

NPR story on Collapse
His intro to E. Mayr's "What Evolution Is"
"The Worst Mistake"
"Easter Island's End"
"The Ends of the World as We Know Them"

Frank W. Ewell's site introducing undergrads to Dr. Diamond

Collapse

Another book for me to check out, sooner or later...

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond
Diamond's "Tokugawa Shoguns vs. Consumer Democracy," "The Ends of the World as We Know Them"

New Yorker book review of Collapse.

Is there a conflict between overpopulation and its effects and God's wisdom and providence? Or should we even attribute the effects to a 'problem' of overpopulation? Many who claim that there is overpopulation are also avowed atheists, or see human beings as nothing more than animals, animals that pose a threat to themselves and to all other forms of life. Some see nothing but a problem that may require drastic (and intrinsically evil) solutions, such as enforced sterilization, and expanded availability of abortion.

Now, if human beings were acting morally and prudentially, conserving resources and respecting local ecologies, as well as sharing resources and wisdom with others in a just manner, and there were still problems because of lack of resources, then one might question God's goodness. However, that is not what we have here--our problems are the result of sin--whether it be tyrannical governments, a failure to constrain our appetites and consumption, or some other moral failure. Without God to keep things in perspective, it would be rather easy to turn to saving one's self and one's own, and blaming everyone else for their ignorance and way of life. Charity requires us to do what we can for others, especially when we aware of the difficulties our societies face. There is no room for that poisonous attitude that seeks to embrace the death of others as a source of solace or as a vindication of one's own false wisdom.