Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond is the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and the current New York Times' best selling "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." This lecture examines the factors that caused great civilizations of the past to collapse and what we can learn from their fates. Series: "Voices" [4/2005] [Humanities] [Show ID: 9390]

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Jared
• Diamond
• author
• civilization
• collapse
• society

[mycatisromeo]

Abolish Religion. Start teaching people to use LOGIC to solve problems. That stuff about religion and people thinking they will be raptured (those people who don't give a shit about the environment) are SELFISH IGNORANT ASSHOLES who dont want to take RESPONSIBLITY for the messes they make. They want to throw their hands in the air and leave it to someone else (as long as they have their McMansion, SUV, and materialistic standard of living).

[goodfoot1971]

Midnight: Your conclusion is SO grossly oversimplified. And our attempt to mask your racist behind "pretend-intellect" is offensive. For years, the Haitians were under a financial yoke of France and the United States was backing the French assertion that Haiti owed France money for the simple desire of being free! Hmm imagine if the English would've gotten the French to back that kind of assertion when WE got our independence? Either way, Haiti's start was difficult and nobody's made it easier.

[zachpmorgan]

@drawnsequence it really disappoints me he's using this as a place to advertise collapsed societies. It's like he won't shut up about it; This video might as well be called 'Societies that self-destruct'

[drawnsequence]

@s0673451 it really disappoints me he's using this as a place to advertise Tokugawa Japan- around the every minute mark after 20 minutes he says Tokugawa around 10 times.

[jdStarlight]

@mycatisromeo You're generalizing and being ignorant, yourself. I'm what people consider religious, but I care about the environment, and I do what I can to keep it as healthy as possible. Generalizing and placing blame on others are probably the two worst things you can do.

[arthurlogins]

the ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT is our only chance of sustainable future

[niriop]

A good lecture, if a few personal quibbles. I think Diamond is too soft on multinational corporations; its obvious that the ones he mentions are the only few to take action against ecological destruction; the rest have fostered a strong cognitive dissonance. I also think there's a lack of discussion of the economic and cognitive anthropology of social collapse, although he does hint at it.

[s0673451]

it really disappoints me he's using this as a place to advertise chevron- around the 36minute mark he says 'chevron' about 20 times.

[s0673451]

i tell you, uctelevision is probably the best youtube content provider on the net.

[Thephyguy]

@steadman1969 No. I am attributing things to religion that are inherent in it. Namely it's oft lame use of logic or reason. Mostly its commitment to nonlearning and nonchange. Religion really is an organization to stop evolution or at least drastically slow it down on so many levels. There are better ways to go about a life than religion. It's in the quality of the organizations. Organizations are qualityless blobs to be filled. They come with their own potentials and dead ends built in.

[steadman1969]

@Thephyguy Again you are attributing to religion what people have done... people in general use and miss use power. You can see this in religion, politics, science and the local bridge club. Religion, politics, science and bridge clubs in themselves are not good or bad, in fact there foundational principles are often very good. So I suggest that no matter what organisation you get rid the only true way to protect our society is to denounce any abuse of power by the individuals who commit it.

[Thephyguy]

@steadman1969

It is true that all people can be those ways. It's also painfully obvious that all scientists aren't responsible for what they create with their findings.

But it isn't true that the world 'needs' religion and science. And right now there are many more reasonable grounds and arguments to favour one more than the other. Also, the only reason that religion started those things was because religion was in control, claiming society as it's own, even things in it that weren't.