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.
HI
ReplyDeleteTim Berry, Invention is the Mother of Necessity, http://timberry.bplans.com/2010/04/invention-is-the-mother-of-necessity.html
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 13, Diamond discusses how at first inventions were created because of necessity. Though, throughout time necessity was created because of invention. This article agrees with Diamond's reasoning and it gives modern examples for support. First, the article discusses cellphones and it says that at first telephones were only used at an office or at home, but now we cannot imagine a world without a cellphone at all hours. The telephone may have been created because of necessity but the cellphones created necessity. This is the same with many inventions, once something has been created people believe that they need more, but they do not. This topic is interesting because while the idea originated a long time ago, it is still relevant today.
Kristen V. Brown: How a virus spreads from animals to humans
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sfgate.com/health/article/How-a-virus-spreads-from-animals-to-humans-4729807.php
In Part 3 of "Guns, Germs and Steel," Diamond discusses how serious diseases, because of domesticated animals were passed onto more developed societies. He explains that this gave them an upper hand, because they already understood or were immune to the diseases that they then used to conquer other countries. This article agrees with Diamond's statement that the dangerous viruses that killed thousands of people, were from animals that people were in close contact with. It states that this will most likely continue as the population grows, and becomes more involved with the environment. It continues to explain that new viruses are still coming around today, and causes large amounts of death. As well as old viruses, still plaguing countries that are unable to protect themselves as efficiently as more developed countries. Altogether, viruses are still as dangerous as they were when the Europeans were conquering the western continents.
Daniel DeNoon , Diseases from Animals: A Primer, Medicine.net, http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52173
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 11, Diamond discusses how many people pick up infectious diseases from our pets. I chose to research more about this topic because I find it interesting that diseases can be shared from one mammal to another. After doing farther research I learned that there are at least 39 important diseases people catch directly from animals. In addition, there are at least 48 important diseases people get from the bite of bugs that bit an infected animal, and at least 42 important diseases that people get by ingesting or handling food or water contaminated with animal feces. Diseases passed from animals to humans are called zoonoses. Some bacterial infections people can get from cats and dogs include, Q fever, Plague, Salmonella, and Campylobacter. To protect yourselves from these diseases one should, wash your hands after touching pet feces, take your pet to the vet on a regular basis, and do not let you pet drink from the toilet.
Helpful post! As much as we love our pets, its important to remember that they are also complex bio-organisms that can impact our physical well-being.
DeleteN/A, "Ancient Egypt, Hieroglyphics"
ReplyDeletehttp://history-world.org/hieroglyphics.htm
In chapter 12, Diamond explains that the development of writing may have occurred multiple times in different countries, which is why the writing of Japanese is so different from the Egyptian hieroglyphs. I decided to learn more about the history of the Egyptian alphabet and how it began and changed. This article explains that Egyptian hieroglyphs began at around 3200 B.C., similar to Diamond's 3000 B.C. The article explains that hieroglyphs were only used by the nobles, because they were hard to learn and time-consuming to create. The ancient Egyptian term for hieroglyphs literally translates to "language of the gods." Egyptians developed a quicker, more cursive-like script called hieratic, and then simplified it once more to a script called demotic. Each kind of writing was used in different settings: hieroglyphs in tombs, hieratic in religious writings, and demotic in business writings. Once the Romans conquered Egypt, the use of hieroglyphs died down dramatically. This interested me because the hieroglyphs are so different from our alphabet, and they were one of the first uses of writing ever. Somehow, those pictures may have been the basis for the English alphabet that we use today.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7765109.stm
ReplyDeleteSeawater Holds Key to Future Food
One topic that Diamond discusses in part three is plant domestication. Plant domestication is when plants are able to adapt so that they can be used by humans. Recently, it has been discovered that many plants have been growing in salty conditions and that this could help decrease the amount of food shortages. Scientists are also finding that agricultural areas are being found less efficient than the salt water areas when it comes to producing certain crops. Additionally, they are finding many crops that are not usually found in salty areas near the ocean, proving domestication.
If sea-levels continue to rise, this could prove a very useful avenue of research.
DeleteAgriculture and Livestock
ReplyDeletehttp://www.government.nl/issues/agriculture-and-livestock
In chapter 11 Diamond talks about how the new world did not have as many disease epidemics as other parts of the world. For example, he gives examples of how we raised our livestock. He says that we did not have very many domesticated animals, so we did not come in contact with too many animals. Also he says that the animals that we domesticated we kept in small groups so the disease only affected a small population. I wanted to learn more about how we could raise livestock to prevent disease. In the article that I found it states the prevention and control of livestock diseases. For instance, the article says to know the symptoms, keep animals in small groups, to keep the livestock full and hydrated, etc.
http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/01/human-language-may-have-evolved-help-our-ancestors-make-tools#disqus_thread
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of chapter 12 Diamond talks about how the development of languages brought power and prosperity to early civilizations. Languages allowed people to convey and discuss ideas such as weaponry, inventions, government, and more. With this information they could build a more powerful civilization. In the article I found it takes the topic of how language was a proximate factor of toolmaking and completely flips it around to make toolmaking a proximate factor of language. The research done on this topic shows that the spread of even the earliest forms of toolmaking would have required some form of teaching and maybe even an protolanguage (early undeveloped language). This ability to share information about toolmaking allowed for greater efficiency in many tasks that were to be completed. This relates to the book by both of them conveying the directly proportional relationship between power and literature.
Who created the first alphabet?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-created-the-first-alphabet
In chapter 12 Diamond talks about the alphabet. I then went and put research into the alphabet and found this article. The "Proto-Sinaitic script" is considered the first alphabet, where it used unique symbols which stood for single consonants. Next, the Greek Alphabet, is known as the first real alphabet and is just a modification of the first one. The Greek language first was written from right to left, but it soon changed to "boustrophedon", which the direction of writing changed with every line. After this more current day alphabets were produced and changed according to language.
This topic came to mind when I read how writing evolved a long time ago. I know that years ago, the Greek language dropped some of their unnecessary letter like ancient people did as well, but I was curious if any evolution of writing was taking place in modern times. It soon became quite obvious to me that texting was changing our writing drastically. Instead of writing out phrases people now right acronyms because they are quicker and easier to do such as, LOL and OMG. This evolution is not only taking place in writing but is spreading to how people talk. Occasionally you will hear someone say OMG or YOLO in a typical modern conversation. This article discusses how texting is changing the way that people write It is from a very good, and reputable source, Time magazine. John McWhorter wrote the article.http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/is-texting-killing-the-english-language/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.farmandranchguide.com/news/livestock/what-does-a-cattle-disease-look-like-in-a-human/article_41f0aeac-4b80-11e1-a531-0019bb2963f4.html
ReplyDeleteLethal Gift of Livestock
In part three chapter eleven of Guns Germs and Steel, Diamond explains the links connecting livestock and crops to germs. As I did more research about the connection between the two, I found from a website called Farm and Ranch Guide that 75% of the newest infectious diseases infecting humans come from livestock origin. Marty Zaluski, state veterinarian for the Montana Department of Agriculture said "While food borne outbreaks of zoonotic diseases continue to challenge public health authorities, the human cases of some of the more severe diseases - such as anthrax, tularemia, or plague - are extremely rare.” Although the more severe diseases are extremely rare it makes me question if what we are eating is actually safe or we are just being told that it is safe to eat.
The Fayu Project
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heath-church.org/missionary-outreach/missionaries/klaus-peter-and-doris-kugler/
Reading chapter 14, I came across the violent group of the Fayu. " known to the outside world only through accounts of their terrified neighbors" (Diamond 265). Diamond states that the Fayu group fought commonly within their own relatives. The Fayu consists of about 400 hunter-gathers dived into 4 different clan. While reading the topic of this group, I was curious if any changed has happened to the group? Has their manner and attitude towards situation changed? Are they still as violent? Based off of the article read, People such as the couple mentioned in the article are introducing christianity upon them. With the new religion influencing the violent tribe, the tribe has greatly improved in behavior.
"13 Animal-to-Human Diseases Kill 2.2 Million People Each Year"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livescience.com/21426-global-zoonoses-diseases-hotspots.html
In chapter eleven, Diamond discusses how microbes from animals transmit to humans and spread infectious diseases. I wanted to further research on this because animals are part of my everyday life; I live with one and I eat food products from animals regularly. It says in this article that sixty percent of all human diseases come from animals. This does not surprise me because many people each day eat animal products that may not have been cooked or processed correctly. Almost three-fourths of rural poor people and one-third urban poor people depend on livestock for food, income, manure, etc. This is very dangerous because most of the zoonotic diseases come from animals such as pigs, chickens, cattle, goats, sheep, and camel. This article helped me realize how much humans depend on animals, so now I understand why so many diseases come from them.
Although not transferred by livestock, it is believed that the current ebola outbreak was caused by the displacement of bats in Central Africa due to development.
DeleteTasmanian People
ReplyDeletehttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/583936/Tasmanian
In chapter 13, Diamond describes a group termed the Aboriginal Tasmanians. This tribe lived on an island near australia for 10,000 years without contact with other people. This tribe survived alone, without major technology for so long. In this article, I found that these people had nothing more than wooden tools. The Aboriginal Tasmanians divided amongst themselves as well. They lived in small packs, rarely gathering with another tribe. With limited land and resources, it's extraordinary that these people could live for a few generations. let alone 10,000 years.
This is a general reference source. Although its okay for this assignment, you should be using more specialized source for your research.
DeleteThroughout chapter eleven of Guns,Germs, and Steel, Diamond discusses the various links between agriculture and disease. However, during that time, the link between agriculture and disease was mainly based off of the differences between animals in each region. The diseases would come about when animals were consistently by the crops, and then spread as crops were traded and proliferated throughout different regions they were not indigenous to. The article I researched on BBC, called "Brain Tumor Link to Pesticides" not only supports Diamonds idea of disease within agriculture, but explores it in a new way. Therefore, this article begins to discuss the way the protection we place on our plants, may be subliminally harming us more than we know. For example, the pesticides that are keeping the plants from rotting or being affected by bugs, is now heavily affecting the agricultural workers. These workers that are exposed to these chemicals throughout the day are beginning to obtain links to a brain tumor. Therefore, this article elaborates on Diamonds original theory of how diseases spread, and adds to it in a more interesting way, considering these pesticides are supposed to help not harm. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6712913.stm
ReplyDelete“Biologists Advise Doctors to Think Like Darwin”
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/24/science/biologists-advise-doctors-to-think-like-darwin.html
In chapter eleven of “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Diamond discusses the links that connect livestock and crops to germs and other diseases. Diamond then goes on to say that “microbes have evolved diverse ways of spreading from one person to another, and from animals to people. The germ that spreads better leaves more babies and ends up favored by natural selection.” In this article, it states that biologists and physicians are proposing to “think more like Darwin” and take into account the principles of evolution and natural selection when figuring out a cure for a specific person.
"American Indians and European Diseases"
ReplyDeletehttp://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/325
In chapter eleven of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" Diamond talks about how some diseases that groups of people had often helped them over power another group of people. Diamond also goes on to state that "The winners of past wars were not always the armies with the best generals and weapons, but were often merely those bearing the nastiest germs to transmit to their enemies". I found that the primary case in which this happened is when the Europeans came to America and this article describes this. Before Europeans came to America, the Native Americans very rarely were subjected to diseases. But once the Europeans came to America, entire groups of Native Americans were obliterated by the germs that the Europeans were bringing. The death tolls on Native Americans from these European diseases often reached eighty to ninety percent. The Europeans brought the bubonic plague, chicken pox, cholera, smallpox, and many more diseases to America.
Alfred Crosby, an environmental historian, has written several books exploring the impact of European expansion.
DeleteIn chapter 12 of GGS , Friedman discusses the power of writing when applied to communicating and knowledge. The chapter expands greatly and describes 3 writing systems. Logograms , the alphabet and syllabaries. After finishing this chapter it enticed me to want to know more about how much power language can have a well as the influence it has amongst us. The Article "Do different languages confer different personalties?" relates to the topic discussed by Friedman in Chapter 12 , because in the article it explains how some people that are bilingual may not be bicultural but some may be both and along with finding out an answer to my curiosity It would also be interesting seeing as I can relate to being bilingual and having a choice between languages. For example ask a person to speak in Spanish and he may be happier because it reminds him of his family while speaking in English can be negative as it could remind him of a work or a place where English is a must , therefore the main topic of the article can directly relate to Friedman and his main topic of writing being quite powerful in knowledge and communication.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/11/multilingualism
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing!
DeleteI support the argument that Diamonds talks about how germs were actually is more deadly then weapons for Eurasian colonizing other land. There is much scientific data to support this, this data shows that in places with densely pack populations have develop many more diseases. This results a population with built in immunities to these diseases. AS weaker people die off, and stronger people survive; this results in populations with immunities to theses diseases. In contrast, hunter-gathering populations are less dense, which makes it difficult for diseases to spread from person to person and survive. Therefore these populations are not exposed to as many diseases, and the people have less immunities. Therefore if these two populations cross, the hunter-gatherers will end up dieing in large numbers, when exposed to the people from populated areas who bring diseases.
ReplyDelete"Outbreaks of Disease and War: Polio's History with Conflict"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/may/08/outbreaks-of-disease-and-war-polio-conflict-cold-war
Chapter 11 of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond discusses how germs and diseases are more effective and deadly than actual weapons. I support this statement because disease is extremely deadly in some cases and sometimes cannot be prevented. Weapons can kill someone immediately, but can be avoided. A disease will either slowly or quickly kill someone, and at war there may not be as many resources to be cured. This article describes how Polio was a killer disease during the Cold War and how it affected an abundance of people. I decided to research further into this topic because I find it to be interesting and wanted to have more knowledge about the subject.