I have watched several of this man's video posts. Most of them are more concerned with the number with of pages in the books he reviews rather than with their content. That and picking on some piece of bad proof reading.
@cisbio Ahh the cultural relativist. Since you consider western civilization to be no better than the Bedouins, how about you throw away your computer and Internet connection and join them?
Your argument does not show Jared Diamond to be either a "Marxist idiot" or a "multiculturalist pervert". You are just making an ad hominem argument. As to the primacy of Philosophy, simply asserting that Philosophy subsumes all other means of aquiring an understanding of how the world works does not make it so. You are assuming that people would, or should, agree with your assumption that the pinnacle of societal development is the generation of philosophy.
Your argument does not show Jared Diamond to be either a "Marxist idiot" or a "multiculturalist pervert". You are just making an ad hominem argument. As to the primacy of Philosophy, simply asserting that Philosophy subsumes all other means of aquiring an understanding of how the world works does not make it so. You are assuming that people would, or should, agree with your assumption that the pinnacle of societal development is the generation of philosophy.
As written in the book, philosophy and religion developped in Europe because of the agricultural surplus which allowed lazy people to make up new occupations that didn't imply working seriously! The smartest became philosophers, while the dumbs kept ploughing and harvesting to feed them.
@parkt6792..Sorry about the spelling error. Small in comparison to the errors of this video, but sorry nonetheless. I will try to do better. By the way, some of my friends only have a B.A. in anthro and they work fully as archaeologists (yes, spelled right). Would you deny that they are anthropologists? You seem to question this. I got through my programs using spell check a lot, just as anyone who is not perfect would do. I guess you are perfect, therefore I yield to thee.
Hey pal, FYI, philosophy is not one of the sciences, at least not anymore. My apologies to philosophers, but they only think about things, ask questions, and make guesses. Real science employes the scientific method which includes testing and replication of it`s findings. Philosophy doesn`t do either of those in any way, shape, or form. If I am wrong, tell me why. You are not qualified to comment on this book. I am an anthropologist, so your lack of knowlage and understanding has been exposed.
@toddmuddywaters all other things being equal, your lack of the ability to spell the word 'knowledge' has been exposed. To call yourself an 'anthropologist' means that you at least hold an advanced Masters degree, I would assume that most who call themselves 'anthropologists' hold a doctorate. How could one go through such programs, and yet not know how to spell? One comes across these questions in the comments section of yt all the time
@parkt6792 Sorry about the spelling error. Small in comparison to the errors of this video, but sorry nonetheless. I will try to do better. By the way, some of my friends only have a B.A. in anthro and they work fully as archaeologists (yes, spelled right). Would you deny that they are anthropologists? You seem to question this. I got through my programs using spell check a lot, just as anyone who is not perfect would do. I guess you are perfect, therefore I yield to thee.
Hey pal, FYI, philosophy is not one of the sciences, at least not anymore. My apologies to philosophers, but they only think about things, ask questions, and make guesses. Real science employes the scientific method which includes testing and replication of it`s findings. Philosophy doesn`t do either of those in any way, shape, or form. If I am wrong, tell me why. You are not qualified to comment on this book. I am an anthropologist, so your lack of knowlage and understanding has been exposed.
I'd say the answer to his question is intelligence combined with ambition, curiosity, and perhaps most importantly trade. I'm not saying the others didn't have any intelligence but without ambition it doesn't get you farther than basic survival. Geography and climate play a huge role in trade and whether or not survival requires more ingenuity in some places in order to survive. Its disingenuous to act like everyone is equal everywhere and that they have evolved at exactly the same rate.
I'm thinking Native Americans were unaware of the "freedom, invidualism, selfishness, rationality, science" that Europeans supposedly brought with them, but rather the disease, massacres and vast land theft. As you said yourself, "not that we had all of that in our basket" right then anyway. In any case how do you know none of them had these concepts? According to you, are we justified to impose "civilization" upon the unwilling? Wow, who knew imperialism fit so in Objectivism-what coercion?
@censored6x It is my belief that the field of philosophy should now be laid to rest. Science has replaced it as the correct way of asking questions and finding answers. Philosophers think about things and ask questions. Science goes further by collecting and testing data and then replicating, blah blah blah... Sorry philosophers.
@toddmuddywaters Science depends on philosophy. You need metaphysics before you can have physics. If the philosophy is irrational, you'll get irrational 'science', such as many of Freud's junk theories. If 99% of philosophers are rubbish, it doesn't change the fact that their philosophies have very real, even deadly effects of every aspect of human life. Example: Communist Russia, influenced by Marx, influenced by Hegel, influenced by Kant.
{" Nobel Prize winner Dr Watson "Blacks are less intelligent than Whites"
The founding father of Genetics Dr Watson related to the Sunday Times that the future of Africa is "Dark" because "Blacks do not have the same intelligence as Whites". The Nobel Prize winner told the times that the world "Pretends Blacks have the same mental ability as whites but the reality is that all the scientific research says thats not true"}
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
@newmind1 You don't do Objectivism any disservice by parroting a tired old quote that simply attacks without making any particular points or identifying any particular errors.
@newmind1 If it's true then why the attackers of Objectivism always seem to rely on smearing, misrepresentation and distortion? If Ayn Rand is fundamentally wrong, why can't they form logical, coherent arguments against her philosophy? Where's the evidence that A is not A, or that consciousness does not possess an identity? Just brashly calling Atlas Shrugged a "childish fantasy" without any further discussion convinces me of nothing and only makes me question yours.
@newmind1 * makes me question your position. Actually, its a bit redundant to call Ayn Rand's novel a "fantasy". Of course a novel is a fictional, imaginary account. Whoever uses this statement doesn't understand the purpose of fiction. Why not call Les Miserables or Othello "childish fantasies"? Of course the real meaning is that the philosophy behind the novel doesn't correspond to reality. To which I say, simply observe how many events in the novel have actually occurred in the real world.
we are on a comment board on a you tube site there is no way anyone is going to have a meaningful conversation. If you want to come to Austin TX I'll treat you to coffee and you can side with Rands' Objectivism and I'll side with Noam Chomsky, but right now I'll call Atlas shrugged a fantasy because it's fiction. Best of luck on your journey Jonathan.
Diamond isn't trying to figure out the "special" things that each nation did. He's trying to discover what enabled certain nations to do "special" things.
the funniest comment"... go back to community college..." too funny. are you trying to prove that whites are the Superior race, isn't that a little 20th century. Besides if it was not for guns white people would not have been able to do what they did and Chinese made gun powder and Arabs made the gun... so do not think Whites are too superior. and stick Obama in your pipe and smoke it... and i am white just FYI
actually, the chinese made both... whites didn't made shit.. no wonder they were called "barbarians"? lol the middle east was like the bridge between the far east to the far west.
I agree and sympathize with so much of what you say - but not all. The modernist view you represent has unfortunately run itself into the ground. Read, The Wreck of Western Culture: Humanism Revisited by John E. Carroll.
Western culture is committing suicide - that, by definition, is not a sign of health. The opinions of Jared Diamond and his ilk are only symptoms of that sickness - the outword projections of a bigger issue -- not the cause
The reason that the negroid is still living in mud huts while the white man is living in space stations is because biology keeps culture on a leash. You have to evolve th egenes for higher intellect first and only then can the corresponding higher culture be produced.
It looks like the pages of Diamond's book would make good kindling or toilet paper. Perhaps it would make a good companion for the equally politically correct book "I, Rigoberto Menchu" .
BLACKS have been on this planet..5 TIMES..as long as Caucasians
BLACKS had a..250,000 YEAR..HEAD START and were still unable to invent THE WHEEL...or even SHOES
In 1/5th the time Caucasians have Charted the entire planet..Created Technology that allows them to FLY in the Air and DIVE into the Deep Oceans..Launched themselves into OUTER SPACE..and SPLIT THE ATOM
Do ya THINK that MAYBE their..5 CUBIC INCH LARGER BRAINS..and 30 POINT HIGHER IQs..Might be a FACTOR HERE?
BLACKS have been on this planet..5 TIMES...as long as Caucasians
BLACKS had a...250,000 YEAR..HEAD START and still were unable to even invent THE WHEEL....or SHOES
In 1/5th that time..Caucasians have Charted the entire planet..created Technology to fly in the sky and dive into the Deep Ocean..split the Atom and launched themselves into outer space
Do Ya THINK that MAYBE their..5 Cubic inch LARGER BRAINS and 30 POINT HIGHER IQs..MIGHT BE A FACTOR HERE?
@Ooloosoon I know this was a year ago,but why didn't those large brains not make the northern Euros build and create written languages,why are even the scriipt that we use today have no roots in northern europe,you all have a very limited knowledge of history,the northern euros created nothing of worth to therest of the world for years the ROmans found them painted blue and living in small clans,where was the large brain then?
The need, want & desire to know the truth triggers our curiosity to seek & discover. During the quest, one becomes conscious of an incredible effort to deceive, which alerts our awareness to sound the alarms of suspicion. Sirens, Bells & Whistle's blaring, who the Hell is hiding the truth & why? Discovering those answers, we come to know the truth. The honest desire to know the truth leads to the path of Who to follow or a path of deception pursuing lies following the liar. This guy is a fraud
Thirdly, Not that I have anything against any religion, but the European conquest of the world was to spread Christianity, all the primary explorers went as missionaries. How can you call that secular?
You are the one who is an idiot. First off, your claim that philosophy is what should be taken into account to see how civilizations develop is total crap. Where do you think philosophy come from? Did people in Europe all of a sudden had a dream about philosophy? Jared Diamond's quest is to find the ultimate cause of differences in human development, and philosophy is not it.
Secondly, I will not even try to say anything about your comment on the natives accepting the European invasion.
Being overly critical really just devalues any argument.
There is no reason to call Jared Diamond an idiot. He is not an idiot. He is highly educated and highly thoughtful.
His theory, to me, is legitamate as a contributing factor, but I think even Jerry knows its not as simple as all that.
So don't call him an idiot just because you have a stupid haircut and a pen in your pocket. If you were as smart as him, you would have pulitzer prize winning books, not boring youtube vidoes
Please...calmly sip your drink more in your videos...it kinda makes you look like you know your stuff...if you look like you know your stuff, people might actually think you actually have something worthwhile to offer...keep it real
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I read Jared Diamonds book and I think his thinking of history is illogical. The reason the rise of European societys compared to others is answered through Darwinism. You have people that live in the harshest conditions, spread of diseases, constant warfare and struggle. Only the strongest of people were to survive, right? So when Europeans came over to North America the indians could not adapt to the new peoples, because they had not had the same struggles, diseases and things. Logical, no?
Are you messing about! How can you even say European colonisation of America was good for the Natives?! A whole continent emptied by smallpox and hostile war. N-America is 100% empty of Natives. Only people there are Spanish/West-Africans/West-Europeans. Does that not seem a little odd? Imagine if England down to Italy was filled with Indians?? I would say that was f-cked up.
I almost sometimes forget N-America was not a empty continent.
dude, you obviously aren't a scholar and you don't know shit compared to jared. His other book was Collapse, and he has excellent writings - well referenced.
You've never read the book yourself, have you? If you have, you would know (assuming you are capable of comprehending what you read) that that's not the conclusion Diamond reaches.
Heck even the Wall Street Jounral now ADMITS the TRUTH
{"Racial Differences in IQ Genes found
The Wall Street Journal
By ANTONIO REGALADO
2006
Bruce Lahn professor of human genetics at the Unv. Chicago stood before a packed lecture hall and reported the results of a new DNA analysis He had found signs of recent evolution in the brains of some people, but not of others
He flashed maps showing changes (in brain size/ IQ ) had taken hold in Europe, Asia but weren't common in Africa
Richard Lynn purposely misrepresents the conclusions presented in the scholarly works he cites (perhaps most egregiously in his book "IQ and the Wealth of Nations").
FOOD PRODUCTION is what mattered: domesticating animals and such. was it because of brain size that africans couldn't domesticate a zebra? Because europeans can't do it either. As much as you (ooloosoon) would like Europe's successes to be accounted for by brain size; that's simple not the case.
Well Damb if "FOOD PRODUCTION is what mattered"...Then Europeans should have toast.
The world best regions for Food Production sure as hell aint Europe...What with its LONG COLD WINTERS, Short Growing season, Crapy CLAY SOIL that couldnt even be used for large scale crop agriculture until a totally new type of plow "the European Plow" was invented.
....Hell for MOST the time Humans have been on this planet Europe WAS UNDER A MILE THICK SHEET OF ICE AND SNOW!
yeah, no shit Europe isn't the BEST place for food production. That's why they were far behind those places that WERE good for food production. Civilization started in the fertile crescent. Europe had the good fortune to be on the same continent as those early food production regions (a continent with a major east-west axis which facilitates easy crop dispersion). Africa's and North America's north-south axis retards crop dispersion.
what tests show that europeans lived in india? I've heard of an Aryan Invasion Theory regarding india; based on some sanskrit texts, but the interpretations of those texts are disputed. OK, lets say that Europeans DID live in the Middle East (?). So, in that case they were the DIRECT beneficiaries of food production- instead of what i said: that they had crops come to them from the middle east via east-west dispersion. Same shit! It all comes down to FOOD PRODUCTION.
Several University labs in India have tested the Y-Chromsome (Male DNA line) structure of India
those tests have shown the Hindu cast system is based on ethnic strata...The Upper Caste populations turned out to be European Y-Chromosome DNA line. (new research shows that its a WESTERN EUROPEAN DNA LINE)
Indian legends support this
Hinduism is the oldest of the world great faiths and Indian Civilization is probably the worlds oldest...and they were founded by WESTERN EUROPEANS
...with some of the planets best soil, Year round tropical climate, plenty of Rain, and 300 days/year of sunshine..Even Alexander The Greats Army was shocked. (and they only saw the EDGE of that region)
Yet it was the "Wurm Adapted" Asians (China/Japan) in the Frozen North that would change Human History (just like the WEST)
Farming came very late to Western Europe yet it was these populations that would invent nearly everything around you today
I find it interesting that you comment with such certainty about what is "good" and what is "bad." Surely, you must know that these are normative terms, and given your extensive interest in "philosophy," it is somewhat disturbing that a smart guy like yourself would be so confident that you have discovered what is and what is not objectively good. The difference between yourself and Diamond is that you lack intellectual humility. Your video=ego masturbation
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Sorry Jared Diamond: Europeans DID NOT INVENT guns, steel, the wheel, windmills, crossbows, writing, cannons, water wheels, chariots, agriculture, magnetic compass, printing press (Korea), algebra, geometry, maps, abacus, metal armor, metal swords, books, paper, money, sundial, flags, kites, metal helmets, measuring rulers and weights, guitar, bagpipes, harps, pottery wheel, sternpost rudder, lanteen sails, square ship hulls, pulleys, written laws, candles, castles, or the escapement mechanism!
hmmm...so confused (you, not me). It's sad that you really have no idea what you are talking about. Rand has this impact on people. First, Diamond is not a Marxist, if anything, the determinant factor in his story is geography/climate - not exactly marxist categories. Second, your jingoistic approval of imperial adventures is a bit disturbing - you wouldn't know civilization if it smacked you in the face.
This is what happens when a very well meaning (and accurate) analysis, is delivered by someone who takes himself too seriously. Crop, you're actually right about DIamond, but have a beer first or something! Relax. But keep pitching....
5 Independently shipping evolved in European nations, as did the eventual use of them. In China they had gun powder and they decided to crack themselves up every night and have a laugh, in Europe the urgently needed to overwhelm each other and soon independently came up with various models of weaponary. One mans toy becomes anothers arsenal only where geography leads to a phylosophy to war all in ones path in persuit of happiness. I guess them Chinese were happy already!
3 He was pushed along by currents (te self same currents that made slavery viable and feasable at the scale.........but thats another can of worms). He failed to return because ofcourse the current goes the wrong way.
Prof JD is correct in the assumption that geography determines outcomes. Thats the way to look at it. What ever the phylosophy geography and other events out of the control of the society determine what you find in
Exactly. As he stated, factors like agriculture and herding brings with it civilization, but it depends on the types of plants and animals available to that region. As I have also stated before Africa (the sub sahara) DID have civilizations,
and did have kingdoms, but they were not LARGE because their geographic locations were not as such that could support a large amount of people. As we go towards the North more fertile lands, near the nile river for instance, larger kingdoms sprout such as Nubia and Egypt.
You college isnt happening in some hoods coz tuition is a limitation and the phylosophy ie knowledge of how to work the system doesnt diffuse well btwn social classed. Some groups will outperform despite natural capacity coz they can throw money at the problem until something sticks. Yes, I believe some people marked for death at birth eg Africa.
It's embarrassing watching this idiot attempt to compose himself like he knows what the hell he is talking about. Even more painful is his piecemeal attempt to debunk Diamond's argument with what he imagines to be clever repartee, while essentially ignoring Diamond's argument itself. But I will excuse it as the product of drunkenness as Cropper seems to take a sip of Coors beer at 4:23.
Diamond's argument is that Eurasians benefited from environmental advantages. In fact, Europeans were simply better at manipulating their environment. The primitive Eurasian horse was just as wild as the Zebra. Selective breeding over thousands of years made the Eurasian horse tameable, similarly, the African continent abounds in historically under exploited food resources. The classic work on this is "Lost Crops of Africa". Fraud!
Cereal grains were not available in sub-Saharan Africa. Food sources in sub-Saharan Africa could not be stored long and required a greater investment of time and labor. Domestication never occurred in sub-Saharan Africa because they lacked the food resources that made domestication productive.
Cereal grains are NOT the only viable food staples. Africans actually introduced rice cultivation into the USA. Rice sustained multiple East Asian civilizations. The Inca built a civilization on tubers. Africa abounds in crops that were capable of sustaining urban civilization, see the book "Lost Crops of Africa".
However, I do think Diamond does neglect the influence individuals have had on the advancement of society. Newton's and Leibniz's calculus made the Industrial Revolution possible in Europe. Newcomen's steam engine that was later perfected by Watt was pivotal to the growth of technology and wealth.
Because they imported horses that had been selectively bred for thousands of years for domestication instead. The original Eurasian horse was just as wild as the Zebra.
Lol... it wasn't about Zebras being wild that Africans couldn't tame, you do know that some Africans use Hyenas as house hold pets right so it's not that they're incapable of taming wild things. They also domesticated cattle independently.
It was Zebras being JITTERY, they were afraid of everything, doesn't seem like the best thing to tame, it's like trying to domesticate a deer...
"jittery" , wow! how can I contest such a scientific analysis? I'm assuming that you have some evidence that the primitive Eurasian horse was completely lacking in "jittery"? How about the ostrich? See any ostrich farms or chariot races before honkey came to Africa? Please stop!
Yes it was, there's a difference between an animal that will constantly run from you, one that will charge at you for no reason and one that will do a combination of both.
Some animals simply are NOT suited for domestication INCLUDING, Zebras. Name ONE "jittery" animal domesticated by Europeans used for ANYTHING but eating.
You might as well hire a crack addict to plow your field.
Why would anyone chariot race with an Ostrich? Sure it's faster than a horse, but have you ever ridden an ostrich? Do you believe it's the best thing to ride? How many miles do you think you can travel sliding off it's sloped back and burning your ball sack? Come off it bro.
Why not just run around domesticating lions and tigers, we'll get rid of their ferocious streak because we're magical Europeans! Sure. Guess Roy Horn missed the memo.
Diamond is talking about race. Blacks didn't domesticate camels, donkeys or horses. One jittery animal; reindeer, dumbfuck! Chariots or carts pulled by ostrich wouldn't be of much use to a race that failed to invented the wheel.
How do you know BLACKS didn't domesticate? Are you really that stupid? Were you there?
Chariots being pulled by an ostrich wouldn't be much use to anyone either way, but you anyway, it seems highly impractical to be dragged from behind by a two legged bird.. what a moronic suggestion.
So it turns out that Africoids DID domesticate animals and master agriculture....and they STILL produced shit all in the way of civilisation! Want to shoot yourself in the other foot?
What the fuck is this shit about civilization? I'm talking about Domesticating animals not about their civilization douchebag. You know the difference?
Yeah right! Civilisation spread from the tiny part of Africa that is closest to Europe, without actually spreading into Africa, and yet Africa and not Europe is suppossed to be the birth-place of civilisation. My bollocksometer just went off.
You just said Africa didn't Egypt is in Africa, idiot. who cares if it's close to Europe, that is like saying the Mediterranean is close to Africa so Africans built it. Don't make me laugh.
If you are saying that civilization spread from Egypt to the Med you are saying that Egypt "built it". One would expect civilization to radiate in all directions, it seems to have met a brick wall when it reached Black people.
Why would it spread in all directions when the Sub Sahara was a different geographical makeup? All the kingdoms in Africa which yes, civilizations did spread (so don't know where you're getting your info), were created near the rivers, this is no different with Egypt and the Mediterranean.
Or does the civilization have to be B.C by your logic because then that would mean only Mediterranean whites were useful among whites at all as they were the only ones that had ancient civilization which eventually spread northward.
Yea... but there were civilizations in africa, there were actually more kingdoms in africa than in south america, so what's the problem? i guess the issue here is size?
Diamond's main contention is that the continuous band of land that is Eurasia, constitutes a highway for information exchange that Africans didn't benefit from. In fact the Eurasian continent is riven by natural barriers that are actually more difficult to traverse than water barriers. His theory doesn't square very well with the OOA theory does it?
Discounting food supply, something essential to the development of a populace, in tracking cultural evolution is as shortsighted as discounting sheep fencing in England during the rise of democracy in that country. Both are intrinsically linked to the ultimate fates of their populaces.
I'm a libertarian and a rationalist, and I still think you're wrong here. Simply because I prefer these philosophies doesn't mean I believe my ideals should be spread via fascist methods. And just because the overarching philosophy of a culture is important doesn't mean that other details don't also contribute to an understanding of its history.
You may see European culture as superior, but are you truly giving them freedom if they are forced into European civilization? That's hypocritical. The native people of the Americas were targeted because of their differences by a foreign people, and they were nearly wiped out as a result of their refusal to accept the destruction of their culture. Do you think most Europeans in the Americas even imagined that such 'savages' would be capable of doing so?
Let's say super advanced race of civilized aliens invade us tomorrow, and in their society, we would have even more freedoms, yes and more advanced technology. Only problem, they're gyping you out of all your resources and spreading disease. But never mind that, you'd put down your primative gun collection and bend over, right? Of course you would. If you're worried about credibility at all, let's get to the heart of it. Beer Swilling.
Diamond - professor of geography, environmental health sciences and physiology at UCLA. - Pulitzer Prize Winner - Junior Fellow at Harvard University - speaks 12 languages - Winner of MacArther Genius Grant and more awards than you will ever see.
Very impressive. Can you list Goering and Goeblle's credentials also? They had college degrees. The men who built the gas chambers had college degrees. Does that make them right?
You worship authority, I take it. You won't question Diamond because he is a "renowned author."
Wow, you really are stretching. Comparing a man who exterminated millions of human beings with an author/scientist. You spout Ayn Rand and at the same time tell me to think for myself? See Librophile's post.
Jared Diamond received the Pulitzer Price for his book "Guns, Germs and Steel" which is the highest National Honor for the excellence in print journalism and literary achievement. Only when you will be able to show such high qualification in your curriculum vitae, if I was you, I would refrain myself from spewing any irrelevant and unfounded criticism of his work. You sound absolutely moronic, to say the least.
Leave it someone who thinks Ayn Rand is a philosopher to entirely miss the point of the book. It is not a book with a political thesis but an anthropological one. Why do people try to view the world through a political prism.
Please read "Eight Eurocentric Historians" by James Blaut which utterly destroys Jared Diamond's theories. And afterwards, read "The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation" (Cambridge U. Press) to cure yourself of the illusion that Europe invented: the wheel, writing, cities, guns, gunpowder, steel, geometry, windmills, 360 degrees, modern numerals, & even PHILOSOPHY, for which the early Greek philos. were persecuted, for introducing foreign ideas that "corrupted the youth" (i.e. from Egypt).
Europhobic nonsense! The far "East" was fuly independent of European power for thousands of years and yet 90% of its population lived at subsistence levels (peasants) and their technology stopped at the horse and cart.
You have not proven that Diamond is a marxist. You also seem to have your history wrong, believing that Europe was some sort of Oasis of innovation. What about middle eastern astronomers and philosophers, economists and poets: Middle American civilizations which rivaled Seville, Mayan methods of time keeping that measured millenia-long cycles?
Islam seized the classical world and took possession of the greatest repositories of Western scholarship. The Muslims did very little with this knowledge, for example the arithmetic that they translated from Indian texts, was mainly used to compute complex Islamic marriage laws.
haha Jared Diamond is a total ignorant. he's got this fictitious view of the world that geography is everything. if you wanna read a real histroy, read 'the rise of the west'. there IS THE ANSWER.
Professor Mcneill. William H. McNeill. He did it like 40 years ago. But this wacko came in - also with his bullshit documentary claiming that only 'geography' caused all of that flourishing. He ignores Culture, [EuroAsian] civilization, Religion, Modern Science..
I take exception to your analysis to the "invasion and genocide" and natives in the United States. How about ethnic cleansing then. Invasion, yes...settlement pushed west with the help of the U.S. Military. Oaklohoma, Indian Territory, was reduced ten fold. Does the advancement of "civilization" justify the eradication of an entire peoples way of life? I'm on the side of justice and morality...not civilization.
While the impact of religion is important, any anthropologist worth half his salt will tell you that religion is almost always a direct result of the environment of the culture that gave birth to it. the primary element of a culture's environment is, of course, ether geography or the direct result of geography.
Philosophy is the primary mover of hisotry. All other factors are secondary. Secondary factors include, but are not limited to, wars, plague, earthquake, volcano, meteor impact, flood, lightning and thunder, wind, rain, snow, etc. philosophy is the only primary mover in human events.
While you may object to Diamond's multiculturalism, the reality is that it is only tangential, and that his argument that geography is paramount is well backed. Elements such as mode of production, potential dangers, ecology, necessary intensity of production, population density, and contact with other cultures (and the nature of that contact) create "philosophy", not the other way around.
Volcanoes happened in the ancient world, sometimes destroying whole civilizations. Today volcanoes are localized economic disturbances. Even the tsunami of Dec 2005, which would have destroyed any civilizations on that coast 10,000 years ago, was just an economic blip.
So, it is obvious that volcanoes do not have a pre-determined effect on humans, nor does any other disaster. The mitigating factor if the human society that experiences the event. And the conclusion is: philosophy is the primary factor in human history.
I think you are missing the point, I don't quite understand why you only associate natural disasters with geography. If you had read guns, germs and steel, you would know that disasters form a very small part of the equation. Google "are the desert people are winning" by Robert Sapolsky for a good article on environmental determinism.
Wrong. The Toba super volcano erupting 70000 years ago reduced the human population the a few thousand. I believe that would have some affect on human history. This has been proven through mitochondrial dna. And you ignore that fact that your precious philosophy would never have developed if farming, and animal domestication hadn't provided the surplus food needed for a person to sit around and contemplate such things.
"And you ignore that fact that your precious philosophy would never have developed if farming, and animal domestication hadn't provided the surplus food needed for a person to sit around and contemplate such things."
How did I ignore that? Not to put too fine a point on it, but you are an imbecile.
Diamond fails to recognize religion in the formation of empires. Notice how Pagism and Christianity caused the fate of the Roman empire whereas Asian religions allowed China and India to become the oldest nations to date. Yes even Europeans have fragmented themselves while Asian nations held themselves together without being balkanized except with European interference.
It would be greatly appreciated if you could answer these questions located on the last page of Guns, Germs, and Steel. "How does Diamond explain the fact that domesticable American apples and grapes were not domesticated until the arrival of Europeans?" "How is farming an "auto-catalytic" process? How does this account for the great disparities in societies, as well as for the possibilites of parallel evolution?" "How does civilization lead to epidemics?" Thank you.
I have watched several of this man's video posts. Most of them are more concerned with the number with of pages in the books he reviews rather than with their content. That and picking on some piece of bad proof reading.
janmn1 1 month ago
...nit-picker...
kathberry8 4 months ago
Objectivists are proof one can be a 'rational' atheist and a complete prat, simultaneously.
"I'm on the side of civilization every time blah' -that's every time 'his' civilization is destroying another civilization, presumably.
cisbio 6 months ago
@cisbio Ahh the cultural relativist. Since you consider western civilization to be no better than the Bedouins, how about you throw away your computer and Internet connection and join them?
jonathanaconway 1 month ago
Your argument does not show Jared Diamond to be either a "Marxist idiot" or a "multiculturalist pervert". You are just making an ad hominem argument. As to the primacy of Philosophy, simply asserting that Philosophy subsumes all other means of aquiring an understanding of how the world works does not make it so. You are assuming that people would, or should, agree with your assumption that the pinnacle of societal development is the generation of philosophy.
AAAA538 7 months ago
Your argument does not show Jared Diamond to be either a "Marxist idiot" or a "multiculturalist pervert". You are just making an ad hominem argument. As to the primacy of Philosophy, simply asserting that Philosophy subsumes all other means of aquiring an understanding of how the world works does not make it so. You are assuming that people would, or should, agree with your assumption that the pinnacle of societal development is the generation of philosophy.
AAAA538 7 months ago
Oooh I'm soooo smart. What a moron you are.
wickdawg 11 months ago
clueless.
tomwerber 11 months ago
As written in the book, philosophy and religion developped in Europe because of the agricultural surplus which allowed lazy people to make up new occupations that didn't imply working seriously! The smartest became philosophers, while the dumbs kept ploughing and harvesting to feed them.
P.s get a job!
puddu81 1 year ago
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@parkt6792..Sorry about the spelling error. Small in comparison to the errors of this video, but sorry nonetheless. I will try to do better. By the way, some of my friends only have a B.A. in anthro and they work fully as archaeologists (yes, spelled right). Would you deny that they are anthropologists? You seem to question this. I got through my programs using spell check a lot, just as anyone who is not perfect would do. I guess you are perfect, therefore I yield to thee.
toddmuddywaters 1 year ago
Hey pal, FYI, philosophy is not one of the sciences, at least not anymore. My apologies to philosophers, but they only think about things, ask questions, and make guesses. Real science employes the scientific method which includes testing and replication of it`s findings. Philosophy doesn`t do either of those in any way, shape, or form. If I am wrong, tell me why. You are not qualified to comment on this book. I am an anthropologist, so your lack of knowlage and understanding has been exposed.
toddmuddywaters 1 year ago
@toddmuddywaters all other things being equal, your lack of the ability to spell the word 'knowledge' has been exposed. To call yourself an 'anthropologist' means that you at least hold an advanced Masters degree, I would assume that most who call themselves 'anthropologists' hold a doctorate. How could one go through such programs, and yet not know how to spell? One comes across these questions in the comments section of yt all the time
parkt6792 1 year ago
@parkt6792 Sorry about the spelling error. Small in comparison to the errors of this video, but sorry nonetheless. I will try to do better. By the way, some of my friends only have a B.A. in anthro and they work fully as archaeologists (yes, spelled right). Would you deny that they are anthropologists? You seem to question this. I got through my programs using spell check a lot, just as anyone who is not perfect would do. I guess you are perfect, therefore I yield to thee.
toddmuddywaters 1 year ago
@parkt6792 Thaaaaaaaaaat's what I thought.
toddmuddywaters 1 year ago
Hey pal, FYI, philosophy is not one of the sciences, at least not anymore. My apologies to philosophers, but they only think about things, ask questions, and make guesses. Real science employes the scientific method which includes testing and replication of it`s findings. Philosophy doesn`t do either of those in any way, shape, or form. If I am wrong, tell me why. You are not qualified to comment on this book. I am an anthropologist, so your lack of knowlage and understanding has been exposed.
toddmuddywaters 1 year ago
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I'd say the answer to his question is intelligence combined with ambition, curiosity, and perhaps most importantly trade. I'm not saying the others didn't have any intelligence but without ambition it doesn't get you farther than basic survival. Geography and climate play a huge role in trade and whether or not survival requires more ingenuity in some places in order to survive. Its disingenuous to act like everyone is equal everywhere and that they have evolved at exactly the same rate.
jawade42 1 year ago
I'm thinking Native Americans were unaware of the "freedom, invidualism, selfishness, rationality, science" that Europeans supposedly brought with them, but rather the disease, massacres and vast land theft. As you said yourself, "not that we had all of that in our basket" right then anyway. In any case how do you know none of them had these concepts? According to you, are we justified to impose "civilization" upon the unwilling? Wow, who knew imperialism fit so in Objectivism-what coercion?
mcc1789 1 year ago
why does philosophy subsume all other fields? i wdnt think is subsumes physics. or chemistry.
censored6x 1 year ago
@censored6x It is my belief that the field of philosophy should now be laid to rest. Science has replaced it as the correct way of asking questions and finding answers. Philosophers think about things and ask questions. Science goes further by collecting and testing data and then replicating, blah blah blah... Sorry philosophers.
toddmuddywaters 1 year ago
@toddmuddywaters Science depends on philosophy. You need metaphysics before you can have physics. If the philosophy is irrational, you'll get irrational 'science', such as many of Freud's junk theories. If 99% of philosophers are rubbish, it doesn't change the fact that their philosophies have very real, even deadly effects of every aspect of human life. Example: Communist Russia, influenced by Marx, influenced by Hegel, influenced by Kant.
jonathanaconway 1 month ago
Ayn Rand--American idiot
Deguello321 1 year ago
This guy is the dumbest American out there. Get an education your freaking idiot!
Deguello321 1 year ago
Thank you...Sometimes The "Ayn Rand worship" gets a little out of control.
newmind1 1 year ago
yah man you need to go back to school. sorry you have too narrow view of the world. just constructive criticism, please don't take it personal.
gtrrz6969 1 year ago
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{" Nobel Prize winner Dr Watson "Blacks are less intelligent than Whites"
The founding father of Genetics Dr Watson related to the Sunday Times that the future of Africa is "Dark" because "Blacks do not have the same intelligence as Whites". The Nobel Prize winner told the times that the world "Pretends Blacks have the same mental ability as whites but the reality is that all the scientific research says thats not true"}
Ooloosoon 1 year ago
7:00
What the fuck? Are you saying that Native Americans weren't civilized? That they we're barbaric savages? Are you some white nationalist or something?
korwinblue 1 year ago
You may wish to read the book 'Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage' by Harvard archeologist Steven Le Blanc.
loadedh23 1 year ago
You sir, are a master of exhaling a lot of Carbon dioxide without articulating a coherent thought. Go back to school.
tjtech12 1 year ago
And now folks, an example of someone trying to operate outside the limit of his intellectual capability. Mind you, nice bookshelf.
Sarusource 1 year ago
how on earth did i guess he would mention Ayn Rand.
MaxwellBennett 2 years ago 2
Bible: ONE book out of many, interpreted by many people in inappropriate ways to further their own selfish agenda
Atlas Shrugged: EXACT same thing
keyboardplaya 2 years ago
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
newmind1 2 years ago 12
@newmind1
ROFL!
Well said.
Changeling9au 1 year ago
@newmind1 LMAO, very well put, you got me there xD
NorseRonin 1 year ago
@newmind1 You don't do Objectivism any disservice by parroting a tired old quote that simply attacks without making any particular points or identifying any particular errors.
jonathanaconway 1 month ago
@jonathanaconway This tired old quote works because it rings with truth.
newmind1 1 month ago
@newmind1 If it's true then why the attackers of Objectivism always seem to rely on smearing, misrepresentation and distortion? If Ayn Rand is fundamentally wrong, why can't they form logical, coherent arguments against her philosophy? Where's the evidence that A is not A, or that consciousness does not possess an identity? Just brashly calling Atlas Shrugged a "childish fantasy" without any further discussion convinces me of nothing and only makes me question yours.
jonathanaconway 1 month ago
@newmind1 * makes me question your position. Actually, its a bit redundant to call Ayn Rand's novel a "fantasy". Of course a novel is a fictional, imaginary account. Whoever uses this statement doesn't understand the purpose of fiction. Why not call Les Miserables or Othello "childish fantasies"? Of course the real meaning is that the philosophy behind the novel doesn't correspond to reality. To which I say, simply observe how many events in the novel have actually occurred in the real world.
jonathanaconway 1 month ago
@jonathanaconway
we are on a comment board on a you tube site there is no way anyone is going to have a meaningful conversation. If you want to come to Austin TX I'll treat you to coffee and you can side with Rands' Objectivism and I'll side with Noam Chomsky, but right now I'll call Atlas shrugged a fantasy because it's fiction. Best of luck on your journey Jonathan.
newmind1 1 month ago
read the new book "The Evolution of Racial Differences in Intelligence" (written by the world top Scientist Dr R. Lynn (Harvard/Berkley/Ulster)
in the Book Dr Lynn uses the work of OVER 500 DIFFERENT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH TEAMS to show there are LARGE RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN SIZE AND IQ
Blacks and Brown populations have Smaller Brains and lower IQs than Norther Populations thanks to Genetic Selection to Survive in Cold environments
Pick up a Copy for Mr. Diamond and mail to to him
Ooloosoon 2 years ago
Diamond isn't trying to figure out the "special" things that each nation did. He's trying to discover what enabled certain nations to do "special" things.
ANSPKylemmm 2 years ago 2
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White Trash Barbarians, watch this video:
Five Major Flaws in Guns, Germs, and Steel
watch?v=QHyspkeyIfs
smartgirlfat 2 years ago
the funniest comment"... go back to community college..." too funny. are you trying to prove that whites are the Superior race, isn't that a little 20th century. Besides if it was not for guns white people would not have been able to do what they did and Chinese made gun powder and Arabs made the gun... so do not think Whites are too superior. and stick Obama in your pipe and smoke it... and i am white just FYI
bilk1234 2 years ago 2
actually, the chinese made both... whites didn't made shit.. no wonder they were called "barbarians"? lol the middle east was like the bridge between the far east to the far west.
mekon11 2 years ago
Huh?
maddavid66 2 years ago
I agree and sympathize with so much of what you say - but not all. The modernist view you represent has unfortunately run itself into the ground. Read, The Wreck of Western Culture: Humanism Revisited by John E. Carroll.
Western culture is committing suicide - that, by definition, is not a sign of health. The opinions of Jared Diamond and his ilk are only symptoms of that sickness - the outword projections of a bigger issue -- not the cause
I enjoy your posts, keep up the good work.
behaack 2 years ago
The reason that the negroid is still living in mud huts while the white man is living in space stations is because biology keeps culture on a leash. You have to evolve th egenes for higher intellect first and only then can the corresponding higher culture be produced.
AKOBADAGETHXIII 2 years ago
It looks like the pages of Diamond's book would make good kindling or toilet paper. Perhaps it would make a good companion for the equally politically correct book "I, Rigoberto Menchu" .
Jim100019 2 years ago
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HEY Mr. Diamond
BLACKS have been on this planet..5 TIMES..as long as Caucasians
BLACKS had a..250,000 YEAR..HEAD START and were still unable to invent THE WHEEL...or even SHOES
In 1/5th the time Caucasians have Charted the entire planet..Created Technology that allows them to FLY in the Air and DIVE into the Deep Oceans..Launched themselves into OUTER SPACE..and SPLIT THE ATOM
Do ya THINK that MAYBE their..5 CUBIC INCH LARGER BRAINS..and 30 POINT HIGHER IQs..Might be a FACTOR HERE?
Ooloosoon 2 years ago
..HEY Mr. Diamond.
BLACKS have been on this planet..5 TIMES...as long as Caucasians
BLACKS had a...250,000 YEAR..HEAD START and still were unable to even invent THE WHEEL....or SHOES
In 1/5th that time..Caucasians have Charted the entire planet..created Technology to fly in the sky and dive into the Deep Ocean..split the Atom and launched themselves into outer space
Do Ya THINK that MAYBE their..5 Cubic inch LARGER BRAINS and 30 POINT HIGHER IQs..MIGHT BE A FACTOR HERE?
Ooloosoon 2 years ago
do u know the history of science ?
Whites invented every thing ..lol man lol..
u fool
IdoCareForPeople 2 years ago
@Ooloosoon I know this was a year ago,but why didn't those large brains not make the northern Euros build and create written languages,why are even the scriipt that we use today have no roots in northern europe,you all have a very limited knowledge of history,the northern euros created nothing of worth to therest of the world for years the ROmans found them painted blue and living in small clans,where was the large brain then?
richbullva 8 months ago
I wish this guy would just finish his degree at the local community college and go back to managing a Subway.
IronicKismet 2 years ago
The need, want & desire to know the truth triggers our curiosity to seek & discover. During the quest, one becomes conscious of an incredible effort to deceive, which alerts our awareness to sound the alarms of suspicion. Sirens, Bells & Whistle's blaring, who the Hell is hiding the truth & why? Discovering those answers, we come to know the truth. The honest desire to know the truth leads to the path of Who to follow or a path of deception pursuing lies following the liar. This guy is a fraud
waketheoblivious 2 years ago
Thirdly, Not that I have anything against any religion, but the European conquest of the world was to spread Christianity, all the primary explorers went as missionaries. How can you call that secular?
Simoqin 2 years ago
You are the one who is an idiot. First off, your claim that philosophy is what should be taken into account to see how civilizations develop is total crap. Where do you think philosophy come from? Did people in Europe all of a sudden had a dream about philosophy? Jared Diamond's quest is to find the ultimate cause of differences in human development, and philosophy is not it.
Secondly, I will not even try to say anything about your comment on the natives accepting the European invasion.
Simoqin 2 years ago
Any point you might have had was lost when you claimed that the whites were offering freedom and equality to the Native Americans.
socritic 2 years ago 11
cmon dude stop sipping that beer and chug that shit! haha
BatuSmoka808 3 years ago
Being overly critical really just devalues any argument.
There is no reason to call Jared Diamond an idiot. He is not an idiot. He is highly educated and highly thoughtful.
His theory, to me, is legitamate as a contributing factor, but I think even Jerry knows its not as simple as all that.
So don't call him an idiot just because you have a stupid haircut and a pen in your pocket. If you were as smart as him, you would have pulitzer prize winning books, not boring youtube vidoes
gprekai 3 years ago
(see how my argument was devalued by picking on you being a pretentious nerd, you just don't want to listen to me at all any more, do you?)
gprekai 3 years ago
Please...calmly sip your drink more in your videos...it kinda makes you look like you know your stuff...if you look like you know your stuff, people might actually think you actually have something worthwhile to offer...keep it real
Bullman 3 years ago 2
Well thats 10 mins of my life wasted that I won't get back . Thanks much doffus.
robroydude36 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
I read Jared Diamonds book and I think his thinking of history is illogical. The reason the rise of European societys compared to others is answered through Darwinism. You have people that live in the harshest conditions, spread of diseases, constant warfare and struggle. Only the strongest of people were to survive, right? So when Europeans came over to North America the indians could not adapt to the new peoples, because they had not had the same struggles, diseases and things. Logical, no?
honestmate8 3 years ago
No. Man has free will.
Beethovens7th 3 years ago 2
Are you messing about! How can you even say European colonisation of America was good for the Natives?! A whole continent emptied by smallpox and hostile war. N-America is 100% empty of Natives. Only people there are Spanish/West-Africans/West-Europeans. Does that not seem a little odd? Imagine if England down to Italy was filled with Indians?? I would say that was f-cked up.
I almost sometimes forget N-America was not a empty continent.
CmdrTobs 3 years ago
He likes to come across as a scholar, but he has a "white trash" biased brainwashed mentality.
TheFlex21 3 years ago
Obviously Cropper wants to lampoon Objectivists by pausing to sip beer, i.e., i.e., i.e. this video is brilliant satire!
bowersbe2002 3 years ago
Dude, stop drinking beer while talking because that doesn't make you more convincing especialy when so much spudity comes out of your month.
osanobunaga 3 years ago
OMG stop me from Laughing HAHAHA!
awesomeanimetoday 3 years ago
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry i cant Stop Laughing!
awesomeanimetoday 3 years ago
So youre sating Jared Diamond is a bad Writer...........?*Hilarious Laughing Face*
I cant explain how crappy ur video is. WATCH UR VIDEO AGAIN THEN READ AND WATCH HIS DOCUMENTARY!*LAUGHING*
awesomeanimetoday 3 years ago
The video is full of anti-semite, demagog statements from an individualist point of view.
It't a crap.
Waste of time to view.
mikinw 3 years ago 3
Mmmmmm. Sorry friend... Diamond is an excellent writer.
kailabreece 3 years ago 3
Point.
You are missing it.
raizumichin 3 years ago 3
dude, you obviously aren't a scholar and you don't know shit compared to jared. His other book was Collapse, and he has excellent writings - well referenced.
rarelibra 3 years ago 3
Dude: You need a girlfriend!! Or a boyfriend - or both.
Thou the "Marxist idiot" wasnt bad at all... But not sure Diamond is. You should be the idiot in such case by targeting so wrongly.
macgtob 3 years ago 3
It is kinder sad, he seems like he is fairly intelligent. But he just messes it up so badly...
Diamond kicks ass.
Thedreamshaperabc 3 years ago
you wasted my time. asshole!
karlwilfr 3 years ago 3
existenjoy
I think the afore mentioned person's comment on you is exactly right.
To clear up first thing first, NO HONEST EDUCATED INTELLECTUAL CAN ADDRESS ANOTHER PERSON AS A "MARXIST IDIOT".
I REALLY PITY YOU.
innerself1 3 years ago
WATCH PART 12/18
LOVE how Diamond UNDERSTANDS how whites gained better GENETICS to fight off deadly Bacteria/Viral Infections
YET IGNORES the SAME THING on GENES for BRAIN SIZE/ IQ
At 1:33 we learn "people with better GENES we able to Survive and pass on their GENES TO THEIR CHILDREN OVER TIME WHITE POPULATIONS BECAME STRONGER"
WINTERS DID THE SAME THING TO EUROPEAN/ASIAN GENES FOR BRAIN SIZE/ IQ
WINTERS tended to KILL OFF lower IQs
That left MORE HIGHER IQs in the GENE POOL
Ooloosoon 3 years ago
You've never read the book yourself, have you? If you have, you would know (assuming you are capable of comprehending what you read) that that's not the conclusion Diamond reaches.
Read the goddamn book. Then we'll talk.
crazymiles 3 years ago 2
Heck even the Wall Street Jounral now ADMITS the TRUTH
{"Racial Differences in IQ Genes found
The Wall Street Journal
By ANTONIO REGALADO
2006
Bruce Lahn professor of human genetics at the Unv. Chicago stood before a packed lecture hall and reported the results of a new DNA analysis He had found signs of recent evolution in the brains of some people, but not of others
He flashed maps showing changes (in brain size/ IQ ) had taken hold in Europe, Asia but weren't common in Africa
Ooloosoon 3 years ago
Diamond is a FRAUD
He TOTALLY IGNORES the HUGE BODY of Research SHOWING LARGE RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN BRAIN SIZE/ IQ
TRUTH is WINTERS of the Colder regions select for larger brains/higher IQ
WINTERS tend to KILL OFF the lower IQ population leaving MORE higher IQs in the GENE POOL and thus MORE high IQ Children
Doctor R. Lynn is the WORLD TOP EXPERT HERE his latest book "The evolution of racial differences in intelligence" explains this
Google it
Also Google Doctor J.P. RUSHTON
Ooloosoon 3 years ago
Richard Lynn purposely misrepresents the conclusions presented in the scholarly works he cites (perhaps most egregiously in his book "IQ and the Wealth of Nations").
crazymiles 3 years ago 2
FOOD PRODUCTION is what mattered: domesticating animals and such. was it because of brain size that africans couldn't domesticate a zebra? Because europeans can't do it either. As much as you (ooloosoon) would like Europe's successes to be accounted for by brain size; that's simple not the case.
karlwilfr 3 years ago 2
Well Damb if "FOOD PRODUCTION is what mattered"...Then Europeans should have toast.
The world best regions for Food Production sure as hell aint Europe...What with its LONG COLD WINTERS, Short Growing season, Crapy CLAY SOIL that couldnt even be used for large scale crop agriculture until a totally new type of plow "the European Plow" was invented.
....Hell for MOST the time Humans have been on this planet Europe WAS UNDER A MILE THICK SHEET OF ICE AND SNOW!
Ooloosoon 3 years ago
yeah, no shit Europe isn't the BEST place for food production. That's why they were far behind those places that WERE good for food production. Civilization started in the fertile crescent. Europe had the good fortune to be on the same continent as those early food production regions (a continent with a major east-west axis which facilitates easy crop dispersion). Africa's and North America's north-south axis retards crop dispersion.
karlwilfr 3 years ago 3
Dude...Where do you think most "Europeans" Lived before the end of the last iceage?
MOST of Europe was under a mile thick sheet of ice
Genetic testings shows that many of the "European Tribes" were living in the middle Easter region (and India)
And of course this just happens to be EXACTLY What the Ancient Texts from these regions STATE
LOOK at Pharo Ramseys long Blonde Hair or His Grandson Ramseys 2nd RED HAIR (whos hair has been TESTED)
another BIG AREA that Diamond skips over.
Ooloosoon 3 years ago
what tests show that europeans lived in india? I've heard of an Aryan Invasion Theory regarding india; based on some sanskrit texts, but the interpretations of those texts are disputed. OK, lets say that Europeans DID live in the Middle East (?). So, in that case they were the DIRECT beneficiaries of food production- instead of what i said: that they had crops come to them from the middle east via east-west dispersion. Same shit! It all comes down to FOOD PRODUCTION.
karlwilfr 3 years ago 2
Several University labs in India have tested the Y-Chromsome (Male DNA line) structure of India
those tests have shown the Hindu cast system is based on ethnic strata...The Upper Caste populations turned out to be European Y-Chromosome DNA line. (new research shows that its a WESTERN EUROPEAN DNA LINE)
Indian legends support this
Hinduism is the oldest of the world great faiths and Indian Civilization is probably the worlds oldest...and they were founded by WESTERN EUROPEANS
Ooloosoon 3 years ago
then South East Asia would have ruled
...with some of the planets best soil, Year round tropical climate, plenty of Rain, and 300 days/year of sunshine..Even Alexander The Greats Army was shocked. (and they only saw the EDGE of that region)
Yet it was the "Wurm Adapted" Asians (China/Japan) in the Frozen North that would change Human History (just like the WEST)
Farming came very late to Western Europe yet it was these populations that would invent nearly everything around you today
Ooloosoon 3 years ago
I find it interesting that you comment with such certainty about what is "good" and what is "bad." Surely, you must know that these are normative terms, and given your extensive interest in "philosophy," it is somewhat disturbing that a smart guy like yourself would be so confident that you have discovered what is and what is not objectively good. The difference between yourself and Diamond is that you lack intellectual humility. Your video=ego masturbation
existenjoy 3 years ago
No one has a right to run around in bear skin? I don't like you, and I don't like the author... weirdo.
ArcaneKarma 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Sorry Jared Diamond: Europeans DID NOT INVENT guns, steel, the wheel, windmills, crossbows, writing, cannons, water wheels, chariots, agriculture, magnetic compass, printing press (Korea), algebra, geometry, maps, abacus, metal armor, metal swords, books, paper, money, sundial, flags, kites, metal helmets, measuring rulers and weights, guitar, bagpipes, harps, pottery wheel, sternpost rudder, lanteen sails, square ship hulls, pulleys, written laws, candles, castles, or the escapement mechanism!
TheMexicaMovement 3 years ago
Sorry, illiterate retard, Jared Diamond didn't claim that Europeans invented all of that.
Why are you commenting on a book you obviously haven't read? Do you enjoy looking like a fool?
crazymiles 3 years ago
You have obviously skimmed the book.
Now try actually reading it!
dal386 3 years ago 3
hmmm...so confused (you, not me). It's sad that you really have no idea what you are talking about. Rand has this impact on people. First, Diamond is not a Marxist, if anything, the determinant factor in his story is geography/climate - not exactly marxist categories. Second, your jingoistic approval of imperial adventures is a bit disturbing - you wouldn't know civilization if it smacked you in the face.
lambastedpolemic 3 years ago 3
This is what happens when a very well meaning (and accurate) analysis, is delivered by someone who takes himself too seriously. Crop, you're actually right about DIamond, but have a beer first or something! Relax. But keep pitching....
proffromgview 4 years ago
I think Cropperb is an imperialist
CrazyShakaZulu 4 years ago
5 Independently shipping evolved in European nations, as did the eventual use of them. In China they had gun powder and they decided to crack themselves up every night and have a laugh, in Europe the urgently needed to overwhelm each other and soon independently came up with various models of weaponary. One mans toy becomes anothers arsenal only where geography leads to a phylosophy to war all in ones path in persuit of happiness. I guess them Chinese were happy already!
exclamation3mark 4 years ago
3 He was pushed along by currents (te self same currents that made slavery viable and feasable at the scale.........but thats another can of worms). He failed to return because ofcourse the current goes the wrong way.
exclamation3mark 4 years ago
Prof JD is correct in the assumption that geography determines outcomes. Thats the way to look at it. What ever the phylosophy geography and other events out of the control of the society determine what you find in
exclamation3mark 4 years ago
Exactly. As he stated, factors like agriculture and herding brings with it civilization, but it depends on the types of plants and animals available to that region. As I have also stated before Africa (the sub sahara) DID have civilizations,
RagingBigot 4 years ago
and did have kingdoms, but they were not LARGE because their geographic locations were not as such that could support a large amount of people. As we go towards the North more fertile lands, near the nile river for instance, larger kingdoms sprout such as Nubia and Egypt.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
You college isnt happening in some hoods coz tuition is a limitation and the phylosophy ie knowledge of how to work the system doesnt diffuse well btwn social classed. Some groups will outperform despite natural capacity coz they can throw money at the problem until something sticks. Yes, I believe some people marked for death at birth eg Africa.
exclamation3mark 4 years ago
black people have little cargo of our own? I didn't know New Guineans consider themselves black.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
It's embarrassing watching this idiot attempt to compose himself like he knows what the hell he is talking about. Even more painful is his piecemeal attempt to debunk Diamond's argument with what he imagines to be clever repartee, while essentially ignoring Diamond's argument itself. But I will excuse it as the product of drunkenness as Cropper seems to take a sip of Coors beer at 4:23.
rithem412 4 years ago
Diamond's argument is that Eurasians benefited from environmental advantages. In fact, Europeans were simply better at manipulating their environment. The primitive Eurasian horse was just as wild as the Zebra. Selective breeding over thousands of years made the Eurasian horse tameable, similarly, the African continent abounds in historically under exploited food resources. The classic work on this is "Lost Crops of Africa". Fraud!
perunatic 4 years ago
Cereal grains were not available in sub-Saharan Africa. Food sources in sub-Saharan Africa could not be stored long and required a greater investment of time and labor. Domestication never occurred in sub-Saharan Africa because they lacked the food resources that made domestication productive.
rithem412 4 years ago
Cereal grains are NOT the only viable food staples. Africans actually introduced rice cultivation into the USA. Rice sustained multiple East Asian civilizations. The Inca built a civilization on tubers. Africa abounds in crops that were capable of sustaining urban civilization, see the book "Lost Crops of Africa".
perunatic 4 years ago
However, I do think Diamond does neglect the influence individuals have had on the advancement of society. Newton's and Leibniz's calculus made the Industrial Revolution possible in Europe. Newcomen's steam engine that was later perfected by Watt was pivotal to the growth of technology and wealth.
rithem412 4 years ago
Then why have Europeans still not been able to tame zebras?
RagingBigot 4 years ago
Because they imported horses that had been selectively bred for thousands of years for domestication instead. The original Eurasian horse was just as wild as the Zebra.
perunatic 4 years ago
Lol... it wasn't about Zebras being wild that Africans couldn't tame, you do know that some Africans use Hyenas as house hold pets right so it's not that they're incapable of taming wild things. They also domesticated cattle independently.
It was Zebras being JITTERY, they were afraid of everything, doesn't seem like the best thing to tame, it's like trying to domesticate a deer...
RagingBigot 4 years ago
"jittery" , wow! how can I contest such a scientific analysis? I'm assuming that you have some evidence that the primitive Eurasian horse was completely lacking in "jittery"? How about the ostrich? See any ostrich farms or chariot races before honkey came to Africa? Please stop!
perunatic 4 years ago
Yes it was, there's a difference between an animal that will constantly run from you, one that will charge at you for no reason and one that will do a combination of both.
Some animals simply are NOT suited for domestication INCLUDING, Zebras. Name ONE "jittery" animal domesticated by Europeans used for ANYTHING but eating.
You might as well hire a crack addict to plow your field.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
Why would anyone chariot race with an Ostrich? Sure it's faster than a horse, but have you ever ridden an ostrich? Do you believe it's the best thing to ride? How many miles do you think you can travel sliding off it's sloped back and burning your ball sack? Come off it bro.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
Why not just run around domesticating lions and tigers, we'll get rid of their ferocious streak because we're magical Europeans! Sure. Guess Roy Horn missed the memo.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
And who TOLD you such animals were not domesticated before European arrival? Lemme guess...Europeans? ROFL.
Here's a nice African proverb for you.
"Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter"
RagingBigot 4 years ago
And here's a list for you.
Helmeted guinea fowl,Guinea fowl,Cane rat,Cat,Donkey, HORSE <- lol!, Camel,Humped cattle.
All domesticated in Africa prior European arrival. What a riot you are.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
Diamond is talking about race. Blacks didn't domesticate camels, donkeys or horses. One jittery animal; reindeer, dumbfuck! Chariots or carts pulled by ostrich wouldn't be of much use to a race that failed to invented the wheel.
perunatic 4 years ago
Actually, new studies now confirm that Africans did domesticate camels, donkeys and horses.
You think reindeer are jittery? Are you joking? You do know the behavioral differences between a reindeer and a regular deer right? NOT THE SAME.
How would you know Africans failed to invent the wheel? Is this something the colonists wrote in their history books on their way back to the U.S?
RagingBigot 4 years ago
How do you know BLACKS didn't domesticate? Are you really that stupid? Were you there?
Chariots being pulled by an ostrich wouldn't be much use to anyone either way, but you anyway, it seems highly impractical to be dragged from behind by a two legged bird.. what a moronic suggestion.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
So it turns out that Africoids DID domesticate animals and master agriculture....and they STILL produced shit all in the way of civilisation! Want to shoot yourself in the other foot?
perunatic 4 years ago
What the fuck is this shit about civilization? I'm talking about Domesticating animals not about their civilization douchebag. You know the difference?
RagingBigot 4 years ago
In Eurasia domestication of animals led to civilization, in Africa it didn't.
perunatic 4 years ago
Yea it did. It's called Egypt.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
Yeah right! Civilisation spread from the tiny part of Africa that is closest to Europe, without actually spreading into Africa, and yet Africa and not Europe is suppossed to be the birth-place of civilisation. My bollocksometer just went off.
perunatic 4 years ago
You just said Africa didn't Egypt is in Africa, idiot. who cares if it's close to Europe, that is like saying the Mediterranean is close to Africa so Africans built it. Don't make me laugh.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
If you are saying that civilization spread from Egypt to the Med you are saying that Egypt "built it". One would expect civilization to radiate in all directions, it seems to have met a brick wall when it reached Black people.
perunatic 4 years ago
Why would it spread in all directions when the Sub Sahara was a different geographical makeup? All the kingdoms in Africa which yes, civilizations did spread (so don't know where you're getting your info), were created near the rivers, this is no different with Egypt and the Mediterranean.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
Or does the civilization have to be B.C by your logic because then that would mean only Mediterranean whites were useful among whites at all as they were the only ones that had ancient civilization which eventually spread northward.
RagingBigot 4 years ago
It seems clear that civilisational spread was indiscriminate, there seems to have been a chromatic divergence in the ability to adopt it.
perunatic 4 years ago
Yea... but there were civilizations in africa, there were actually more kingdoms in africa than in south america, so what's the problem? i guess the issue here is size?
RagingBigot 4 years ago
Diamond's main contention is that the continuous band of land that is Eurasia, constitutes a highway for information exchange that Africans didn't benefit from. In fact the Eurasian continent is riven by natural barriers that are actually more difficult to traverse than water barriers. His theory doesn't square very well with the OOA theory does it?
perunatic 4 years ago
Discounting food supply, something essential to the development of a populace, in tracking cultural evolution is as shortsighted as discounting sheep fencing in England during the rise of democracy in that country. Both are intrinsically linked to the ultimate fates of their populaces.
dreamkast0r 4 years ago
I'm a libertarian and a rationalist, and I still think you're wrong here. Simply because I prefer these philosophies doesn't mean I believe my ideals should be spread via fascist methods. And just because the overarching philosophy of a culture is important doesn't mean that other details don't also contribute to an understanding of its history.
dreamkast0r 4 years ago
You may see European culture as superior, but are you truly giving them freedom if they are forced into European civilization? That's hypocritical. The native people of the Americas were targeted because of their differences by a foreign people, and they were nearly wiped out as a result of their refusal to accept the destruction of their culture. Do you think most Europeans in the Americas even imagined that such 'savages' would be capable of doing so?
dreamkast0r 4 years ago
your the idiot!
bluzy25 4 years ago
Let's say super advanced race of civilized aliens invade us tomorrow, and in their society, we would have even more freedoms, yes and more advanced technology. Only problem, they're gyping you out of all your resources and spreading disease. But never mind that, you'd put down your primative gun collection and bend over, right? Of course you would. If you're worried about credibility at all, let's get to the heart of it. Beer Swilling.
Ozarkmadness56 4 years ago
foolishness all a round...i suspect he didn't read the book.
atama99 4 years ago
I hope this video was meant to be a joke.
gwlech 4 years ago 2
"I hope this video was meant to be a joke."
Is that a joke?
MrCropper 4 years ago
""I hope this video was meant to be a joke."
Is that a joke?"
Nope. I can't help but think you haven't actually read the book. The first twenty pages in particular...
RabidApe 4 years ago
Diamond - professor of geography, environmental health sciences and physiology at UCLA. - Pulitzer Prize Winner - Junior Fellow at Harvard University - speaks 12 languages - Winner of MacArther Genius Grant and more awards than you will ever see.
You - nothing - Mother's basement
sekretsauce 4 years ago
Very impressive. Can you list Goering and Goeblle's credentials also? They had college degrees. The men who built the gas chambers had college degrees. Does that make them right?
You worship authority, I take it. You won't question Diamond because he is a "renowned author."
Give me a break and start thinking for yourself.
MrCropper 4 years ago
Wow, you really are stretching. Comparing a man who exterminated millions of human beings with an author/scientist. You spout Ayn Rand and at the same time tell me to think for myself? See Librophile's post.
sekretsauce 4 years ago
Jared Diamond received the Pulitzer Price for his book "Guns, Germs and Steel" which is the highest National Honor for the excellence in print journalism and literary achievement. Only when you will be able to show such high qualification in your curriculum vitae, if I was you, I would refrain myself from spewing any irrelevant and unfounded criticism of his work. You sound absolutely moronic, to say the least.
librophile 4 years ago
Leave it someone who thinks Ayn Rand is a philosopher to entirely miss the point of the book. It is not a book with a political thesis but an anthropological one. Why do people try to view the world through a political prism.
wilbwil 4 years ago 3
Please read "Eight Eurocentric Historians" by James Blaut which utterly destroys Jared Diamond's theories. And afterwards, read "The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation" (Cambridge U. Press) to cure yourself of the illusion that Europe invented: the wheel, writing, cities, guns, gunpowder, steel, geometry, windmills, 360 degrees, modern numerals, & even PHILOSOPHY, for which the early Greek philos. were persecuted, for introducing foreign ideas that "corrupted the youth" (i.e. from Egypt).
TheMexicaMovement 4 years ago
Europhobic nonsense! The far "East" was fuly independent of European power for thousands of years and yet 90% of its population lived at subsistence levels (peasants) and their technology stopped at the horse and cart.
perunatic 4 years ago
You have not proven that Diamond is a marxist. You also seem to have your history wrong, believing that Europe was some sort of Oasis of innovation. What about middle eastern astronomers and philosophers, economists and poets: Middle American civilizations which rivaled Seville, Mayan methods of time keeping that measured millenia-long cycles?
thinkfast123 4 years ago
Islam seized the classical world and took possession of the greatest repositories of Western scholarship. The Muslims did very little with this knowledge, for example the arithmetic that they translated from Indian texts, was mainly used to compute complex Islamic marriage laws.
perunatic 4 years ago
haha Jared Diamond is a total ignorant. he's got this fictitious view of the world that geography is everything. if you wanna read a real histroy, read 'the rise of the west'. there IS THE ANSWER.
THE RISE OF THE WEST
Somatostatin 4 years ago
By who?
cropperb 4 years ago
Professor Mcneill. William H. McNeill. He did it like 40 years ago. But this wacko came in - also with his bullshit documentary claiming that only 'geography' caused all of that flourishing. He ignores Culture, [EuroAsian] civilization, Religion, Modern Science..
The book is a full of shit to be fair.
Somatostatin 4 years ago
A much better book to explain the rise of The West is "COLONIZER'S MODEL OF THE WORLD" by James Blaut.
Also recommended reads:
- "Eight Eurocentric Historians" by James Blaut (demolishes Jared Diamond)
- "1491" by Charles Mann
- "American Holocaust" by David E. Stannard
- "THE EASTERN ORIGINS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION" by James Hobson (Cambridge University Press)
TheMexicaMovement 4 years ago
Cropperb, I have some philosophy for you. When you win a Pulitzer, maybe people will listen to you too.
bmpeter73 4 years ago
Are you a teacher?
rottersdude 4 years ago
I take exception to your analysis to the "invasion and genocide" and natives in the United States. How about ethnic cleansing then. Invasion, yes...settlement pushed west with the help of the U.S. Military. Oaklohoma, Indian Territory, was reduced ten fold. Does the advancement of "civilization" justify the eradication of an entire peoples way of life? I'm on the side of justice and morality...not civilization.
rottersdude 4 years ago
@Rotters:
" Does the advancement of "civilization" justify the eradication of an entire peoples way of life? "
Yes.
MrCropper 4 years ago
@TaffyAlpha:
While the impact of religion is important, any anthropologist worth half his salt will tell you that religion is almost always a direct result of the environment of the culture that gave birth to it. the primary element of a culture's environment is, of course, ether geography or the direct result of geography.
MaxKBennett 4 years ago
@MaxkBennet
Philosophy is the primary mover of hisotry. All other factors are secondary. Secondary factors include, but are not limited to, wars, plague, earthquake, volcano, meteor impact, flood, lightning and thunder, wind, rain, snow, etc. philosophy is the only primary mover in human events.
cropperb 4 years ago
OK...
how do you back that assertion up?
While you may object to Diamond's multiculturalism, the reality is that it is only tangential, and that his argument that geography is paramount is well backed. Elements such as mode of production, potential dangers, ecology, necessary intensity of production, population density, and contact with other cultures (and the nature of that contact) create "philosophy", not the other way around.
MaxKBennett 4 years ago
blah blah blah "create philosophy"
Volcanoes happened in the ancient world, sometimes destroying whole civilizations. Today volcanoes are localized economic disturbances. Even the tsunami of Dec 2005, which would have destroyed any civilizations on that coast 10,000 years ago, was just an economic blip.
MrCropper 4 years ago
So, it is obvious that volcanoes do not have a pre-determined effect on humans, nor does any other disaster. The mitigating factor if the human society that experiences the event. And the conclusion is: philosophy is the primary factor in human history.
MrCropper 4 years ago
I think you are missing the point, I don't quite understand why you only associate natural disasters with geography. If you had read guns, germs and steel, you would know that disasters form a very small part of the equation. Google "are the desert people are winning" by Robert Sapolsky for a good article on environmental determinism.
MaxKBennett 4 years ago
Wrong. The Toba super volcano erupting 70000 years ago reduced the human population the a few thousand. I believe that would have some affect on human history. This has been proven through mitochondrial dna. And you ignore that fact that your precious philosophy would never have developed if farming, and animal domestication hadn't provided the surplus food needed for a person to sit around and contemplate such things.
wilbwil 4 years ago
"And you ignore that fact that your precious philosophy would never have developed if farming, and animal domestication hadn't provided the surplus food needed for a person to sit around and contemplate such things."
How did I ignore that? Not to put too fine a point on it, but you are an imbecile.
MrCropper 4 years ago
Diamond fails to recognize religion in the formation of empires. Notice how Pagism and Christianity caused the fate of the Roman empire whereas Asian religions allowed China and India to become the oldest nations to date. Yes even Europeans have fragmented themselves while Asian nations held themselves together without being balkanized except with European interference.
TaffyAlpha 4 years ago
It would be greatly appreciated if you could answer these questions located on the last page of Guns, Germs, and Steel. "How does Diamond explain the fact that domesticable American apples and grapes were not domesticated until the arrival of Europeans?" "How is farming an "auto-catalytic" process? How does this account for the great disparities in societies, as well as for the possibilites of parallel evolution?" "How does civilization lead to epidemics?" Thank you.
outlawzftw 4 years ago