Archive - Nov 2005

Want a book recommendation? GGS! Jared Diamond. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, answers the question of why Europeans conquered the globe rather than the Incas for instance. It is a compelling read. I just wrote a quick paper on it for my Environmental Classics course. Thought some might enjoy reading it. The question is whether Diamond's book let's the West off the hook for its actions (genocide and colonialism).

GGS: Geographic Determinism Is Not Apologism

Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel does not constitute an apology for imperialistic actions. The fact that this question has even arisen speaks more about the tensions surrounding modern politics than any failings of the book. Diamond seeks to explain why Europeans conquered the globe, rather than the Incas or Australian Aborigines. He does not argue one would have been better than the other or that European colonialism is justified. What he does argue is that the reasons for European domination come largely from geographic factors.

Diamond's look toward geographic explanations for European domination seems to reject a belief of cultural superiority. That being said, Diamond would argue that geography begets culture. Nonetheless, his argument does not center on some innate European superiority, but rather the logical outcome that whoever settled in this region would have significant advantages over continental neighbors in the long term.

GGS is arguing that some groups have advantages over others due to their geography. The ability to cultivate mass quantities of food creates a comparative advantage which can allow one population to overrun neighboring populations which may not have that advantage. This is an explanation for historical events. It does not suggest that those people have some sort of moral imperative to spread their population. That would be a justification for their actions. There is a significant difference between explanation and justification.

Ultimately, Europeans had major advantages over other cultures due to geographic advantages building up over time. The fact that they chose to colonize others is separate from the fact that they could. If any society has developed advantages over its neighbors and not used them, we would likely not know because they would not have developed into massive empires that left artifacts or wrote history. Thus we are left with a distorted view of history. The ability to do something starts being seen as having the right to do that thing. This is a false pairing.

Europeans have claimed to have a higher moral standard than primitive societies. This is their history of philosophy and civilization. Yet their actions have consistently been brutal and motivated by greed rather than the lofty ideals of their poets and philosophers. Jared Diamond is not looking at their actions in colonizing but rather what made their actions possible. This is that subtle distinctions between the ability to do something and actually doing it. Diamond does not attempt to justify the latter.

If anything, Diamond's politics seem to run in the opposite direction of justifying colonialism. His discussion of Yali's question actually suggests that Europeans are not more intelligent than those they colonize because they have been naturally selected for traits other than intelligence due to urban life. While this argument may be a bit specious, it does demolish the idea that Diamond approaches this subject with an air of Western superiority.

I've been trying to keep up with the possibility of light rail on the central corridor between St. Paul and Minneapolis. I have been talking with some folks that are studying it here at the Humphrey Institute and I hope to post some information about it soon. In the meantime, the MN Daily has an article about local business concerns over the project.

I just heard on MPR that Ramsey County - I believe - has hired a sharpshooter to thin the deer population around St. Paul and Maplewood. Interestingly, all the venison will be donated to local foodshelves. I suppose this is a far superior plan to allowing everyone to hunt in the city. How much fun would it be to be the sharpshooter though? Kind of like a less hard core Rambo? Stalking deer through the neighborhood - the only person allowed to harvest them in possibly the entire county?

Science Friday on NPR today is broadcasting the igNobel Award Show Highlights which is hilarious. Well worth the listen.

This is a sweet shirt!

Since I found out about the World Community Grid computer program, my computer has donated some 73 days of computing time. It runs on spare cycles - basically when I am not using my computer or when I am barely using it. Until recently, it was working exclusively on the Human Proteome Folding Project. That project is now over. The new project works toward designing new drugs to fight AIDS. Sign up to help out.

The 3rd ranked women's Mac Soccer team lost in yet another shootout last weekend. This is two years in a row that they have perished in a sweet 16 shootout. Rather disappointing. I was thinking about heading to Chicago for the game, but ended up being too busy with school work to go. Now I will be waiting until next year for more Mac soccer. Both leading scorers will be back. If they can keep up the tough d, they will do well again.

I was one of those truly geeky folks who stayed up until midnight to catch Harry Potter on opening night. We got to the Ultra Screen in Oakdale 1 hour early which meant we sat at the second row from the front. Seriously! How early do you have to show up to sit in a reasonable spot. Nonetheless, we saw it at midnight.

And it was good. Soooo good! Although the Hermione - Hagriff love scene on top of the hipogriff may have been a little bit much. Seriously. I know Rowling likes to push the Christians' buttons, but naked saddle sex may have been a bit much.

Actually the movie was lots of fun - don't go expecting the book though. If you want the book, read the book, don't watch a movie!

So the Vatican just came out and said Intelligent Design is not science and should not be taught alongside evolution.

The New York Daily News provided me with my morning will-to-live moment with this opening paragraph.

In one of the most intellectually incoherent major speeches ever delivered by a minor President, George W. Bush last week blamed "some Democrats and anti-war critics" for changing their minds about the war in Iraq and now saying they were deceived. "It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," the President said. Yes, sir, but it is even more deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how history was rewritten in the first place.

Is the UN going to wrestle internet control away from the United States? Nope. A better question is whether the internet will continue to be dominated by the United States. While the UN will not be "taking" control of the internet from the U.S., it may end up in control of the internet following a meeting in Tunis. Foreign Policy magazine interviews Lawrence Lessig about the possible outcomes.