After you've read Part III: From Food to Guns, Germs, & Steel, identify one point or issue with which you agree, disagree, or about which you would like to learn more. Use the SVHS databases or the Internet to find out more.
Your comment to this post should include the author, title, source, link or database title, and a summary of the source. In your summary, please explain why you choice this particular topic for further exploration.
Chapter twelve of GGS describes the evolutions of writing into what we know it as today. One of the first forms of writing was the Egyptian hieroglyphics which were symbols, each representing a different word. Later on, a group of Semitic-speaking people adapted the writing form so that each symbol represented a sound in the language. This new writing style was considered simple enough to be spread to the commoners and then adapted by other countries. By the 8th century this writing had been refined in Greece and then spread across Europe. The development of the modern day alphabet is very interesting considering its origins as well as the resources and effort applied to making it. (Schumm, Laura. “Who Created the First Alphabet?” Infotopia. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 June 2016. .)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 11, Diamond speaks of how epidemics are originally diseases that animals have, but then get transferred to human diseases. He uses the black death as an example, but does not tell the exact origin or history of it, so I decided to learn more. The plague originated in China, from the fleas on rats, and came on a trade vessel to Sicily. Some of the symptoms the people found the disease caused were fever, vomiting, internal bleeding and boils. The disease lasted about three hundred years and one of the worst outbreaks was in London in 1665 which killed about seven thousand people every seven days. New researchers have come to believe that in a town, Eyam, that was quarantined there may have been a few people who were immune because when outsiders finally went back to visit the town only half had died. ("Mystery of the Black Death: Background." Infotopia PBS Whyy. Thirteen Productions, n.d. Web. 3 Aug. 2016.) No author
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 13 of GGS, Diamond explains his version of a phrase, “invention is often the mother of necessity, rather than vice versa” (Diamond 243). Diamond explains how, when someone comes up with an invention, the idea behind the invention is often not what the invention actually is used for. Diamond uses the example of Thomas Edison’s phonograph, and how its reason for being invented was not for recording and playing music. He also explains how before most inventions are created people do not find a necessity to have something that will do what the invention does. As “Accidental Discoveries” explains, many inventions and discoveries arose from completely random incidents. The discovery of the x-ray, by German physicist William Roentgen was a complete accident, as he was studying cathode rays, which are found in products such as televisions, when he realized that the rays were not being contained by his solid, glass tube that was covered with paper (so no light should have escaped). Roentgen than accidentally realized that the rays could be used to see through solids, and in the proper conditions see skeletal systems. The x-ray was then invented. The x-ray was an invention that came about accidentally, with no prior necessity because people would not have thought of something such as an x-ray; yet it is now one of the most beneficial tools in the medical world. Diamond’s idea that, “invention is often the mother of necessity, rather than vice versa,” is an agreeable statement because there is multiple sources of evidence of inventions creating a purpose for themselves in the world. (Krock, Lexi. "Accidental Discoveries." NOVA. WGBH, 27 Feb. 2001. Web. 4 Aug. 2016. .)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter twelve of GGS, Jared Diamond discusses writing and how it has evolved over the years to become one of the most important parts of a civilization. He goes on to explain how different civilizations made their form of writing and how it changed from one civilization to another, but what interested me the most about writing is why it was so important. While researching, I came across a source that explains why all these civilizations that Jared Diamond is talking about really wanted to have a form of writing and the main reasons are because it helped further advance trade, it helped in long distance communication, helped record historical events and religious beliefs and helped expand literature. These reasons all explain just how important writing was and why civilizations such as the Sumerians and Babylonians wanted to have a writing system installed in their society.
ReplyDelete(Mark, Joshua J. "Writing." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 28 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 Aug. 2016.)
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ReplyDeleteIn chapter thirteen of GGS, Diamond discusses the Phaistos disk. It is a disk that has writing on it and it goes from the outside of the disk to the center without running out of room or there being extra space. There were 45 distinct signs on the disk. It was discovered in the city of Phaistos in southern Crete. The disk is likely to be 4,000 years old. It is a unique writing that has not been discovered anywhere else. The disk remains undeciphered to this day. It is also unknown if it is an early native Cretan language or if it was brought in from somewhere else. It is likely that the symbols were stamps since when two of the same symbol appeared they were identical. ("Phaistos Disc." Ancient Scripts, Lawrence, www.ancientscripts.com/phaistos.html.)
ReplyDeleteChapter twelve of GGS states that languages vary between different cultures. The idea that intrigued me was why some languages use symbols and others use letters. An example language with an alphabet would be English. The English language is based off of other languages, but the first language to use an alphabet was Phoenician. The Phoenician people changed the writing system from a series of picture into a language that was based on sounds. (Thamis. "The Phoenician Alphabet & Language." Ancient History Encyclopedia, www.ancient.eu/article/17/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2016.). A language that represents the use of symbols is Chinese. The Chinese language was developed based on a series of symbols and picture that already existed. Most of the Chinese symbols are similar to the symbols drawn in prehistoric time, but over time the symbols have changed to be made easier to write. ("Chinese." Ancientscripts.com, Lawrence Lo., www.ancientscripts.com/chinese.html.). In the end, every language is based off of some sort of previous language or symbolism.
ReplyDeleteIn Part three of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond explains why some animals cannot be domesticated. To further understand his statements, I used this database to research. This database states that the lifestyle of some animals is not suitable to humans. The article states that some animals have picky eating standards that are not suitable for the humans lifestyle. Also, some of these animals mature too quickly for humans to keep up, making it difficult for us to raise them. There is such a long, detailed list that not all animals meet the 'qualifications' so they cannot be domesticated. ("Why Can't All Animals Be Domesticated?" By Natalie Wolchover http://www.livescience.com/33870-domesticated-animals-criteria.html )
ReplyDeleteChapter eleven of GGS provides much information about diseases and microbes that evolved from animals and became deadly human illnesses. Diamond mentions a few examples of epidemics that have previously occurred including the bubonic plague, influenza, and cholera. One particular influenza epidemic, Diamond called the "...greatest single epidemic in human history...". This epidemic occurred at the end of World War I, and killed over twenty-one million people. I have never heard about this epidemic before, and it intrigued me because of how Diamond described it. "The Influenza Pandemic of 1918" article describes that the war was winding down, and a disease that seemed like a common cold began to flourish. It was far more than the common cold, though, and it infected a fifth of the whole globe's population. The disease was most deadly for people ages twenty to forty, which is uncommon since the influenza virus normally mostly affects children and the elderly. Influenza decreased the average lifespan of an American by ten years. It seemed as if people died overnight. A person would get the disease and simply die later that day. It was spreading across the globe through trade routes and on boats, and the war increased the speed with all the soldiers traveling to fight in the war. No one could find the cause of the virus spreading, but some people thought it was from mustard gases, generated smoke and fumes (from the war), or the humidity of certain areas. The epidemic is thought to have originated in China, but it first noticeably appeared in military camps in Kansas in 1918. The disease first arrived in a port in Boston with shipments of machinery and supplies for war. The nurses and doctors were dying from influenza, so there was a great shortage of care takers. The Red Cross had to recruit many volunteers to assist the infected people and the injured veterans. The people that were not infected had to wear gauze masks, stores could not hold sales, and funerals could only be fifteen minutes. People ignoring these rules had to pay fines, and some towns created a signed certificate that people had to have to get into the town. (Billings, Molly. "The Influenza Pandemic of 1918." Human Virology at Stanford, Feb. 2005, virus.stanford.edu/uda/.)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter eleven of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond discusses the advantage of germs when Europeans conquered the Americas. Because Native Americans had not built up an immunity to diseases Europeans carried when Europeans spread all throughout the Americas their germs killed many natives. I became interested in how germs can be used as a weapon and decided to use a database to find more recent accounts of this. There was very little on this topic, but I found one article that explained that using germs to kill in war is called biological warfare. According to the article biological warfare was banned in 1972. This banned modern weaponry laced with germs such as "germ-laden shells". Needless to say, even with today’s war strategies biological warfare, like the Europeans used, is ruthless and specifically targets innocent bystanders. "Talking Down Germ Warfare." Christian Science Monitor, vol. 93, no. 128, 29 May 2001. EBSCO Host, web.b.ebscohost.com/src_ic/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=8d4fb115-0fa6-4d13-a82a-663b11ccae2e%40sessionmgr104&hid=107&bdata=#db=asm&AN=4490471. Accessed 26 Aug. 2016.
ReplyDeleteChapter fourteen of Guns, Germs and Steel discusses the evolution of societies. Diamond discusses four different types of societies: bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states. The difference between, let’s say, a tribe and a band is very subjective, yet they each have their own specific requirements. For example: a band refers to dozens of people that know everyone by name while a chiefdom has thousands of people that know a small portion of the people by name. All of these terms to describe groups of people are usually chosen due to their sociopolitical organization. Additionally, like Diamond states, economics and agriculture are also deciding factors of a population’s given name. If a group of people are nomadic and they perform hunting and gathering rituals, which means that the group is either a band or tribe. (Pauls, Elizabeth Prine. "The Difference Between a Tribe and a Band." Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2016, www.britannica.com/topic/Difference-Between-a-Tribe-and-a-Band-1673365. Accessed 29 Aug. 2016.)
ReplyDeleteChapter twelve of Guns, Germs, and Steel takes a detailed look at the evolution of writing, and how it has effected civilizations. The idea that knowledge is power is an idea that Diamond repeats throughout this chapter in one form or another, and it could not be more true. European development of language prior to other societies allowed them to have significant technological and organizational advantages as opposed to those other societies, and this is a point of Diamond's that I agree to be nothing less than common sense. There are many different forms of languages and systems for them, but the most common is an alphabet with whole words. The initial development of the first language was substantially harder than all the other ones, as following languages mostly took bits and pieces from each-other to form themselves. An article I found from the Santa Fe Institute further delves into the origins of languages, how and when languages began evolving, and how most languages are simply stemmed from others (“Evolution of Human Languages: Current State of Affairs.” Evolution of Human Languages, Santa Fe Institute, ehl.santafe.edu/intro1.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2016.)
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 11 of Guns, Germs, and Steel diamond makes a statement in which I agree with. The statement is “For almost any disease, some people prove to be genetically more resistant than are others.” This resistance was possibly passed down from our parents. One example is that when someone in your family is sick, it is easily passed to you and most of the time you catch the infectious disease. Another example is that if you have a family member that has a gene that is resistant to a certain disease, that gene was most likely passed down to you and you are resistent to that disease. In essence, a parent or relatives resistance against sickness is most likely passed down to your genes and natural selection dramatically increases. "Disease Resistance May Be Genetic." ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
ReplyDelete2007/08/070830150014.htm.