NEWS
Author shares views on world civilization
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Matthew Dolbey:
Related Stories:
- Two employees to be let go from chancellor's office (November 13, 2008)
- Beloit College to cut 10th of staff (November 13, 2008)
- Homeless men turn to violence (November 11, 2008)
- Student groups rally for green cause (October 28, 2008)
- Faculty endorses Campus Drive name change (October 7, 2008)
Share This:
by Matthew Dolbey
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
University of Wisconsin students, faculty and Madison community members listened to author and Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond’s stories concerning the conquest of continental Europeans throughout the world.
<p>Hundreds of UW students have become familiar with Diamond’s books, especially “Why is Sex Fun?” and his million-copy seller “Guns, Germs and Steel.” UW professor Dr. Tim Allen uses these books in a class he teaches. Allen, who teaches the two courses featuring the books, ILS 252 or Botany 240, introduced Diamond, saying the author’s success was due to his unique approach to scientific writing.
<p>Instead of just using effective equations to describe science, Diamond’s use of analogies to tell the story of the Western civilization of the Americas is what makes him such an effective theorist.
<p>”The bottom line is, he tells wonderful stories,” Allen said.
<p>Diamond, who now teaches in the School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, mostly described his “Guns, Germs and Steel” book, testifying to Eurasia’s apparent dominance of the world in the past 13,000 years compared to the other continents.
<p>Diamond explained his theory, saying agricultural advancement in Eurasia and China helped those cultures’ dominance of Native Americans. The Eurasian continent has an “unequal geographic distribution.” He also said technology dispersed throughout the Old World, making advancement and conquest possible.
<p>The issue of new technology saturating the world now poses a problem, according to Diamond. Whereas earlier in history native islanders used new tools like muskets to war with each other, the question of nuclear weapons proliferating in the world now poses a serious concern. However, the spread of new innovations does not always spread like the “musket wars,” Diamond said, noting that German breweries do not use the American breakthroughs in their bottling and refrigeration methods. Diamond explained that Germany does not have massive “national breweries” like America’s Miller, Budweiser or Coors and that most German beer is sold only about 30 miles from its origin.
<p>”The spread of technology is not inevitable,” Diamond said. He added that nuclear weapons are yet to be seen in North Korea.
<p>Diamond also said the difference of the unity in China and the diversity of rulers in continental Europe is the reason a Chinese explorer did not discover America or take over Europe before Columbus landed in the Caribbean. Diamond further explained that a Chinese sea captain with ocean-worthy ships answered only to one Chinese emperor, and the captain had no alternative but to follow the emperor’s decision after the emperor refused further exploration. This was not the case for Columbus.
<p>”When one prince [in Europe] said no to Columbus, Columbus had other princes to ask,” Diamond said.
<p>Diamond went further to say the diversity in rulers and obvious intercommunication can be correlated to the business sector. Whereas closed-off businesses delay innovation, corporations providing interdepartmental communication and organization foster growth.
<p>Diamond ended his lecture by saying geography and germs still matter to societal developments, even though technology has provided instant communication such as the Internet.
<p>
