Jared Diamond
Jared Diamond
Jared Mason Diamondis an American scientist and author best known for his popular science books The Third Chimpanzee; Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; and The World Until Yesterday. Originally trained in physiology, Diamond is known for drawing from a variety of fields, including anthropology, ecology, geography and evolutionary biology. As of 2013, he is a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles...
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth10 September 1937
CityBoston, MA
technology adopted
Technology has to be invented or adopted.
conflict humans human-history
Much of human history has consisted of unequal conflicts between the haves and the have-nots.
reflection two long
Two types of choices seem to me to have been crucial in tipping the outcomes [of the various societies' histories] towards success or failure: long-term planning and willingness to reconsider core values. On reflection we can also recognize the crucial role of these same two choices for the outcomes of our individual lives.
unique evolution biology
Biology is the science. Evolution is the concept that makes biology unique.
natal enormous crops
The southward advance of native African farmers with Central African crops halted in Natal, beyond which Central African crops couldn't grow - with enormous consequences for the recent history of South Africa.
simplicity consistency complicated
History as well as life itself is complicated -- neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency.
social uncomfortable considering
We're uncomfortable about considering history as a science. It's classified as a social science, which is considered not quite scientific.
easter ocean islands
The metaphor is so obvious. Easter Island isolated in the Pacific Ocean — once the island got into trouble, there was no way they could get free. There was no other people from whom they could get help. In the same way that we on Planet Earth, if we ruin our own [world], we won't be able to get help.
age age-and-aging american-author continents humans ice last living stone until
Until the end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 B.C., all humans on all continents were still living as Stone Age hunter/gatherers.
among biological continents history human pattern seems societies society
The broadest pattern of history - namely, the differences between human societies on different continents - seems to me to be attributable to differences among continental environments, and not to biological differences among peoples themselves.
american-author australia human low smallest support
Australia is the smallest continent, and most of it can support only small human populations because of low rainfall and productivity.
company dinner founded fund last october radically spoke wildlife
One could say that Patagonia is radically environmentalist, a company that's founded on those principles. But there are other examples, too. I spoke at a World Wildlife Fund dinner fundraiser last October hosted and funded by Starbucks.
book people responding
People are responding so well to the book - it's really an upper.
face helpless oil people public says selling wood
People are not helpless in the face of big business. It's up to the public to say what it wants. Only when the public bans single-hulled oil tankers from American waters, only when the public says no more selling wood logged from old-growth forests, will companies... come up with other solutions.