...Mysteries in the universe are infinite. From how babies are formed, to the different things we see around us have once been a mystery in the past. The constant curiosity of a human being challenges the human race to find the explanation of how things are created and how things work. Now on the first documentary seen is entitled Guns, Germs, and Steel. Upon researching more about the documentary, I discovered that the documentary was based upon a book that explores the theory of Jared Diamond on why there is a clear divide between countries that have technologies available to them and other countries who have lesser and dated technologies. Even we are in the age of flying planes, wireless communication and fast data transfer, there are still some parts of the world in which there are no technologies used. The documentary compares the life of the citizens in Papa New Guinea and the advanced countries and finding the root of the differences. In the theory of Jared Diamond, one of the...
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...Jared Diamond had a question that was asked to him by Yali, a New Guinean native, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo?” he had a hard time giving him an answer but after twenty-five years he finally had an answer to it. The reason is Indo-Europeans became so much more accessible to their resources unlike the New Guineans. The people of New Guinea were set aside from the world with many people not bothering with what the have as opposed to was Indo-Europeans have. While the world around them was developing, the New Guineans were completing tasks the same as their ancestors did many years before them. The reasons the New Guineans are frozen in time is because mainly of its geography. In “Guns, Germs, and Steel” Diamond...
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...In the documentary "Guns, Germs, and Steel", Jared sought to determine the roots of inequality in the world when one of the natives from New Guinea, Yali, once asked him how "the white folk had more cargo and us New Guineans have nothing." This question would spark Diamond's journey on discovering the reason that some people were more privileged than others and where that privilege came from. Diamond would later come to the conclusion that geography played a major role in some civilizations progressing faster than others, as the availability of stable land and nutritious crops enabled societies to fulfill their primary needs, allowing for specialization which led to technological advancement. This technological advancement in a sense then became the determining force for development of societal of cultural values. On another hand, Diamond's work also reveal that Europeans have also derived their innovation from other nations, suggesting that groups construct knowledge for each other, allowing for a...
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...From the opening line of the preface, Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel is nothing if not an ambitious work: “This book attempts to provide a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years” (Diamond, 9). This is a bit misleading, however, as Diamond’s motivation is not simply to provide an overview of our species since the dawn of civilization; his aim is to answer the question of “why history unfolded differently on different continents” (Diamond, 9). In the near five-hundred pages of the book, he makes a valiant effort to answer the question in terms of geography (with the adjoining environmental explanations). Indeed, his argument is exceptionally persuasive, and provides strong evidence that Eurasia’s dominance over other parts...
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...In the book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond a man by the name Yali was walking along a beach as was Jared Diamond. As they were walking together, Yali asked Diamond, “Why is it you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea but we black people had little cargo of our own.” This questioned could be answered in many different ways. One explanation could be genes. Many people believe Europeans have the best genes, that they are “biologically different.” Diamond believes genes has nothing to do with it. He says how stone age people can be smarter than industrialists. Also Europeans have many forms of entertainment, while places like New Guinea have no passive entertainment. Another explanation is climate. Yali believes...
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...In 1977, UCLA professor and biologist, Jared Diamond, published Guns, Germs, and Steel, sparking debate among anthropologists and other academics. Winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize and New York Times bestseller, Guns, Germs, and Steel is arguably one of the most controversial novels of its genre, for Diamond’s futile attempt to explain why human development proceeded at such different rates on different continents has resulted in critical responses among scientists. In his novel, Diamond explains that civilization is exclusively the consequence of climatic and environmental imperatives, contending that the polities allowing for expansion and technological advances in human society are attributed to geography, food production, the domestication...
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...First, in chapter one I learned that competition is very important in the growth of a company. This is true because it motivates them to create better quality goods or services at a cheaper price or lower rate, with the end goal of attracting more customers. However, in some cases rival companies have been known to take the competition too far by focusing on ruining the other company rather than making their own better. Second, in chapter two I learned that one of the keys to a successful business is that it develops and keeps a good ethical image. For example, the issue of environmental protection has been given increasing importance since the late 20th century. Therefore, governments around the world have begun to pass laws to protect the environment from harmful practices such as improper disposal of medical waste. In response, several companies have created executive positions for a person to help them achieve its goals in an effective and environmentally responsible way. Third, in chapter three I learned that international trade has several barriers, such as economic, ethical, legal, and political barriers. For example, a major legal barrier for the US is all the laws and regulations that have been set in place to govern international trade. Another obstacle companies engaging in international trade must maneuver around is the differences in American laws and any other country's laws concerning currency, taxes, patents, and quota limits. Fourth, in chapter four I learned...
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...Chapter One: January Tita feel a deep love for the kitchen because of her “unusual birth” and because she “spent most of her life from the day she was born” in the kitchen. Nacha was in charge of feeding Tita after “Mama Elena’s milk dried up firm the shock” of her husband death. She became close to Tita and raised her. For Tita the “joy of living was wrapped up in the delights of food.” To her the “world was an endless expanse that began at the door between the kitchen and the rest of the house…it was Tita’s realm.” As for Tita’s sisters, “Tita’s world seemed full of unknown dangers.” The family tradition states that the youngest daughter will have to take care of the mother until the day she dies. This is significant because Tita will not be allowed to marry Pedro. “If he intends to ask for your hand, tell him not to bother. He’ll be wasting his time and mine too.” There are several issues that Tita brings up when she questions the family tradition such as, “If Tita couldn't marry and have children, who would take care of her when she got old?” and “And what about women who marry and can't have children, who will take care of them?” The song, “The Eyes of Youth,” was played last Christmas when Pedro and his family were invited to dinner. Pedro and Tita fell in love that moment. Tita described her feelings as “dough feels when it is plunged into boiling oil.” Chapter Two: February The beginning of Tita’s rebellion started as a result of Pedro’s engagement to Rosaura. Tita was...
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...MITCHELL MCCAUGHAN ANTHROPOLOGY 100 WILLIAMS GUNS GERMS AND STEEL PART TWO Even though the documentary, “Guns, Germs and Steel,” delivers a sense of gratitude for the state or our civilization and culture, it poses several moral dilemmas in which are too frequently forgotten. Namely the idea that we stole and murdered for what we have. That our history is rarely accurate to this point and that we are effectively indoctrinated into a system that, to the extent in which they are understood, allows for immediate acceptance and general approval of these facts. One is most certainly left asking whether it has been worth it. If one were to consider this question seriously, it may be as hard a question that has ever been presented. If we start with the fundamental principles of morality and explore an objective analysis of our actions I think we find that the answer is most certainly that it has not been worth it. If we accept an elementary moral maxim that we are accountable for the anticipated consequences of our own actions, then we must have a conversation about what we do that is within our control. We can discuss the behaviors and effects of behaviors exhibited by others, but there is no moral significance to that discussion. It may provide an interesting bounding of debate but will relatively account for nothing. In we accept this and subsequently if we deny the general concept of hypocrisy, that is that we can agree that the standards in which we accept for ourselves we will...
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...Guns, Germs and Steel Page 1 GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL: The Fates of Human Societies By Jared Diamond, 1997 About the Author: Jared Diamond is a professor of physiology at UCLA School of Medicine. He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and was awarded a 1999 National Medal of Science. He is also the author of The Third Chimpanzee. SUMMARY The book asks and attempts to answer the question, once humankind spread throughout the world, why did different populations in different locations have such different histories? The modern world has been shaped by conquest, epidemics, and genocide, the ingredients of which arose first in Eurasia. The book’s premise is that those ingredients required the development of agriculture. Agriculture also arose first in Eurasia, not because Eurasians were superior in any way to people of other continents, but because of a unique combination of naturally occurring advantages, including more and more suitable wild crops and animals to domesticate, a larger land mass with fewer barriers to the spread of people, crops, and technology, and an east-west axis which meant that climate was similar across the region. The book is well written and contains not only information about the history of cultures around the world, but excellent descriptions of the scientific methodologies used to study them, from how archeologists study the origin of agriculture to how writing evolved to how linguistics can trace the movements of peoples across huge geographic...
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...What Does it Mean to be Human in an Age of Modern Technology? What does it mean to be human in the age of modern technology? Many feel that technology is only a useful tool and has not changed what it means to be human. Others argue that today’s technological advances have become so rapid, sophisticated and ingrained in daily life it is taking away from the interest, welfare and humanistic nature of our society. Most all do agree that technology has certainly played a role in humanity’s social and behavioral progress throughout history. However, to what extent technology really drives the development of our social and behavioral changes can elicit a heated discussion. Humans are driven, curious creatures that seek to solve problems and have a need for social interactions. As well they desire some form of system of belief (though not necessarily religious in nature) and aspire to be part of something collective or feel a sense of purpose to life. Countless studies provide that human behavior arises out of the interaction between individuals and their environment. Although environments do influence human behavior, many contend the basic tenets of humanity such as compassion, the need to have connected relationships and the desire to improve upon our lives have not changed in the face of technology. However, it is clear that human attitudes and expectations today are certainly very different than even several generations ago. Much of which, is a direct result of technological...
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...Service Operations Strategies Final Exam Please answer all three questions fully. Take your time. Think about your responses and ‘try out’ some of these responses. They may look ‘better’ or ….not as complete a day or two after you initially write them. As such, your response , often, requires some iteration and refining. Question 1 You’ve visited Biscuits & Bath, America’s largest ( ! ) full-service , chain dog care business. You have B&B’s service fee schedule. Please note the below NYT article about “The High Cost of Animal Ownership.” One couple featured in the article spends upwards of $15,000/yr to care for their dog. ( at least they don’t have to pay for college costs ) B&B is a premier and premium-priced service. They make no bones about this. Our visit highlighted the detailed research B&B ( and , in particular, Scott Smith, his partner , and Scott’s wife, Julie …..did in terms of service, operations, health care, and legal issues ) did and continues to do to constantly improve their service and operations. I, also, point out Maersk Lines . Maersk is the world’s largest container shipping service. They provide “womb-to-tomb” service to transport a customer’s goods. A more accurate characterization of Maersk’s service might be point-to-point. Maersk will deliver a container to your location, wait for you to load the container, pick up the container, load it onto a Maersk freight ship, and deliver the container to its destination. You can’t get...
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...INTRODUCTION Based on the discussion of the validity of Noam Chomsky’s perception of Universal Grammar (UG), some past & current researches which maintain & contest Chomsky’s UG from different areas are represented. The essay focuses on: 1) Chomsky’s Universal Grammar in brief, in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) context; 2) Evidences supporting Chomsky’s UG - views offered by linguists such as Williams and White, etc, to provide arguments to support UG pertaining to first language acquisition and second language acquisition; 3) Evidences refuting Chomsky’s UG - according to Piaget and Haspelmath, etc, based on the insufficient assumption of SLA and also biological evolutions; 4) UG and language teaching; 5) and in the conclusion, I shall add my two-cent worth of perspective as a language teacher. 1) Chomsky’s Universal Grammar in Brief Universal Grammar is the brainchild of Noam Chomsky, adopting the cognitive approach. Human beings have implicit knowledge of grammar but may not be able to explain how they get this ability. This is because they have no conscious awareness of the processes involved. 1) Universal grammar is a theory of knowledge: It is mainly concern with the internal structure of the human mind, suggesting that the speaker knows a set of principles that apply to all languages, and parameters that vary from one language to...
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...For thousands of years, most people on earth lived in abject poverty, first as hunters and gatherers, then as peasants or laborers. But with the Industrial Revolution, some societies traded this ancient poverty for amazing affluence. Historians and economists have long struggled to understand how this transition occurred and why it took place only in some countries. A scholar who has spent the last 20 years scanning medieval English archives has now emerged with startling answers for both questions. Gregory Clark, an economic historian at the University of California, Davis, believes that the Industrial Revolution -- the surge in economic growth that occurred first in England around 1800 -- occurred because of a change in the nature of the human population. The change was one in which people gradually developed the strange new behaviors required to make a modern economy work. The middle-class values of nonviolence, literacy, long working hours and a willingness to save emerged only recently in human history, Dr. Clark argues. Because they grew more common in the centuries before 1800, whether by cultural transmission or evolutionary adaptation, the English population at last became productive enough to escape from poverty, followed quickly by other countries with the same long agrarian past. Dr. Clark’s ideas have been circulating in articles and manuscripts for several years and are to be published as a book next month, "A Farewell to Alms" (Princeton University Press). Economic...
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...Intelligent machines are already being used by many private companies. These are in the forms of autopilot, data mining, facial recognition, etc. Those are not form of A.I. that humans interact with. There some modern uses of A.I. Humans interact with such as automated systems and there will be more as technologies develop. Something else that will come along with the development of artificial intelligence is robots as domestic helpers. And both of these will bring with them many ethical questions to consider. 2.1 DIGITAL DIVIDE Great as it is, technology has left a great gap between people. Those who have access to it are more productive and become more knowledgeable and those who don't are left behind. Jared Diamond in his book “Guns Germs and Steel” talks about how the technological divide between nations began. Diamond names numerous reason. However the area he seems to give...
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