Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sources of Global Inequalities
Jared Diamond, the author of "Guns, Germs and Steel" is an "environmental determinist". He argues that “History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among people’s environments, not because of biological differences among people themselves” (p. 25). His argument is that the people who were "geographically blessed" were able to domesticate plants and animals to produce an abundance of food, which created conditions needed to develop new technologies, weapons, immunities to disease etc. This is why some societies were able to expand and conquer other societies - why some societies are better developed and more powerful than others. Do you agree or disagree with Diamond? Why? Additionally, thinking beyond the root causes of inequalities, what are some other factors that perpetuate poverty in some and prosperity in other parts of the globe? After watching the first episode of "Guns, Germs and Steel, " we watched the "Unnatural Selection" movie in Prof. Rogers-Cooper's class. The two movies made me think about the parellels between access to and control of resources (e.g. food) as a cause of inequalities both in early history and right now. It was interesting to see how our relationship with the environment "evolved" over time. We moved from harvesting food to sustain Life to engineering food for profit...Does this play a role in generating global inequalities today? What do you think?
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Not only do geographic blessing exist but their antonym does as well. Oil has been widely regarded as one of the biggest curses bestowed upon this planet and cities residing on it either prospered through their own efforts or would be manipulated and simply used as the resource they rested upon and then discarded. In modern day everything has been discovered there aren't new oil wells popping up so now the battle for the ones that remain are taking place as stated in Resource Wars.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jared Diamond. In certain areas of the world certain civilizations are more fortunate in the variety of resources around them. As in certain animals that are used as not only cattle but a food source, are only found in certain areas of the world due to the dependancy of the environment to that specific animal. But I also believe in the ambition of those who are more industrially ahead then those who are behind. When the ambition of wanting more and being able to claim that title of the best provider/producer, that civilization will have more resources than others.
ReplyDeleteThis does have some relavence to the Unnatural Selection movie. When people's ambitions turn into greed things tend to go a stray. We end up making our resources work for us instead of provide for us. Genetically ultering food gives the coporations the will to bend nature so it will subside all of whats natural do whats more common inorder to get a quick profit.
So it no longer matters really on the environmental advantage in civilizations. it depends on where I can revieve my resources from (as in meatpacking companies for ex.).
-Christina Portee
Jared Diamond, professor of biology at the University of California, explores the subject of global inequalities. The scientist makes an interesting observation about geography as a powerful tool that helped the culture of Western Europe dominate the development of the modern world. The great variety of crops and wild animals suitable for domestication in some areas of the world, like the Middle East – the “Fertile Crescent”, China, and Central America allowed the people switch from hunting and gathering to the agricultural lifestyle. Farming involves less people and can feed more people at the same time. But some other regions like Papua New Guinea lack that variety of animals that are useful for the farming purposes, or for getting meat, milk, and fur. They also don’t have those nutritious crops, like rice, squash, corn, and beans that are rich in protein. It puts such regions in a constant disadvantage as people are forced to spend all their time producing food, because they don’t have crops that are easy to store for years. Therefore they simply don’t have time for further rapid development.
ReplyDeleteI think that Diamond makes an excellent point. Making a link to we’ve learned from another class with Prof. Rogers-Cooper, I could also note that geography plays a remarkable role in the power distribution in the modern world, which is so dependent on oil. Some regions were given amazing energy resources from nature and it helps them act out on the political arena and keep less fortunate (in the aspect of energy) countries dependent on their moods.
I’ve also remembered that geography played quite a notable part in the outcome of the Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. The army of Napoleon was defeated not only by Czar Alexander I and the Russian army but also by the harsh Russian winter. There’s even an article in Wikipedia (that I, honestly, have just discovered) on the subject of “Russian Winter” that is defined as “a common explanation, an excuse, or justification for military failures of invaders in Russia”.
I find it to be a very interesting observation. Jared Diamond did a great research.
- Evgeniya Ezhova
I agree with Jared Diamond idea. for instance, although Tibetans some times blames for the Chinese government for the invasion of Tibet, still if we look clearly now i think we lost over county because Tibetan paid to much attention studying religion rather than what is happening around the world. It has also to do with the geographical because Tibet is located at very cold place and surrounded with mountain rather than sea. And At that time the reality was different the technologies rules.
ReplyDeletetenzin dorjee
I agree with Jared. I see it like this if something grows into something else, that pushes growth or new inventions to make way. For example the invention of tuppaware wouldnt have been made if there was no food to be left over or just food in general. In the developing socities where their food seemed to push the growth of inventions thats what happened. The way people grew and processed food cause food development and a gai of knowledge. Knowledge is power the more you learn the farther you go. The villagers played it smart they saw that they made a different type of food with a main food grain and they progressed from there to keep up with the food development.
ReplyDeleteI do agree and believe that geographic location is the cause for some societies to advance faster than others. But I will say I feel as if it’s almost inferred that technological advances aren’t always better or makes a society better or well off than another society. Anyone must have resources to advance in any situation. Something as simple and basic as water is resource that is need for any living thriving community needs to advance at life, growing crops, cleaning to defend against disease, being a healthy living organism. Our evolution as a people all depended upon what was at our disposal for living and how we lived. Whether it was living poorly or living wealthy. Our relationship with food as a developed western society has changed in the last few decades. Food is no longer a substance to live, something needed to live and being healthy. It is now the mass production taken for granted. Big corporations see it as money and intake not an important life giving substance. This unhealthy disconnected image of food has caused and shaped the big developed countries to be rich and whomever hold the green holds the power. This power causes inequalities in the countries.
ReplyDeleteLike I said in class, geographic changes affects the human being since the earliest time. People that are different challenged, develop different. I like the example with the use of animals, as a support and the different profitable fields, as an answer of faster development. It seems that the people in europe had the opportunity to master their challenges easier and to use their time for developing tools and weapons. The weather challenged the people and they created a way to secure themselves and with the time off (not being on the fields) they developed new items/ideas. Isn't it the challenge that makes us smarter? For example, everyone in our class is facing his/her challenge to become more successful in live. Through challenges people develop a way to make things simpler and more efficient. But it's at the end what we do with our new trained skill, that creates the world we live in. If the EDC's would help other countries and learn from each other, things would be so much easier at the end for everyone.
ReplyDelete