• Guns, Germs and Steel

    From EdwardDolan@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 25 02:57:33 2016
    "John B." wrote in message
    news:i6vgob1fma78meo1ipf7prtk0vguamgoad@4ax.com...
    [...]

    And how do I know? Well I have actually, unlike you, spent some time
    in places [West Papua?] where no man may have ever walked before.
    [...]

    If, instead of sitting home watching the T.V. you actually traveled to
    any of these remote regions you would find that the bulk of the poor
    primitive people are located along rivers and streams where there is
    an abundance of water and at least fish to eat. And even the Danu
    people, a stone age culture, in West Guinea who live as high as 3,000
    - 4,000 ft. above sea level and depend on agriculture for survival
    live along streams and rivers.

    Edward Dolan wrote:

    The kind of agriculture practiced in New Guinea was not capable of
    supporting a large population, but even so, the land was being fully
    occupied given the kind of economy that was available to them. Any
    elementary course in anthropology will explain why primitive peoples live
    where they live, but you were claiming that there are areas of the earth
    that were untrod by man. That is what I am disputing, not that some areas
    were difficult, if not impossible to settle. Only Antarctica was relatively untrod by man.
    [...]

    Again you speak without knowledge. In fact there aren't many people in
    New Guinea. No where that I worked, in roughly 5 years in the country,
    was there a town or village. The Danu, one of the largest tribes seem
    to have about 90,000 members, and the entire populating of W. New
    Guinea is estimated at 3.6 million and the population density seems to
    be 10 per sq. Km. Anthropologists describe the people as primarily
    living in villages along the rivers.

    New Guinea, like every other area of the world, was fully populated in accordance with the economy that prevailed there. An island the size of New Guiana with millions of people will have examined every square inch of that island. The brute fact of geography itself will determine how many people
    the land will support. Tropical areas only look rich and fertile, but they
    are not. New Guinea was supporting as many people as it could support.
    Besides reading some anthropology you should perhaps read Malthus, although
    I think primitive people were better at controlling their population than we are.
    [...]

    More about New Guinea:

    Has it ever occurred to you why Britain had an empire that covered the world while New Guinea remained mired in poverty and savagery? They are both about similar sized islands - and let us go with the progressive liberal view that all people are born equal. Why were the outcomes on these two islands so different? Frankly, I would have had a tough time answering that question myself, other than making some general observations that Britain was the repository of other earlier advanced civilizations whereas New Guinea was
    not.

    Sine you have an interest in New Guinea based on your stay there, here is a video which is a must view for you. It was an eye opener for me and I think
    it will be for you too. It is long and in 18 parts, but it will repay the
    time and effort you spend on it because it will teach you some hard lessons about mankind that you never knew, or least never thought about much.

    From a description of the YouTube video:

    “ Uploaded on Nov 5, 2007
    Episode One : Out of Eden (Part 1 of 6)

    Jared Diamond's journey of discovery began on the island of Papua New
    Guinea. There, in 1974, a local named Yali asked Diamond a deceptively
    simple question:

    "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black
    people had little cargo of our own?"

    Diamond realized that Yali's question penetrated the heart of a great
    mystery of human history -- the roots of global inequality.

    Why were Europeans the ones with all the cargo? Why had they taken over so
    much of the world, instead of the native people of New Guinea? How did Europeans end up with what Diamond terms the agents of conquest: guns, germs and steel? It was these agents of conquest that allowed 168 Spanish conquistadors to defeat an Imperial Inca army of 80,000 in 1532, and set a pattern of European conquest which would continue right up to the present
    day.

    Diamond knew that the answer had little to do with ingenuity or individual skill. From his own experience in the jungles of New Guinea, he had observed that native hunter-gatherers were just as intelligent as people of European descent -- and far more resourceful. Their lives were tough, and it seemed a terrible paradox of history that these extraordinary people should be the conquered, and not the conquerors.

    To examine the reasons for European success, Jared realized he had to peel
    back the layers of history and begin his search at a time of equality -- a
    time when all the peoples of the world lived in exactly the same way. ”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgnmT-Y_rGQ&index=1&list=PL21D82E72068E3035

    What prompted this post? John B. has spent years in New Guinea and thinks someone like me could not possibly know anything about conditions there.
    Alas for that view, anyone can know just about anything about anywhere in
    the world as a result of the kind of technology that is available to us
    today. All it takes is a willingness to learn.

    This video will make anyone who views it very humble about any professed superiority he might be deluded with as a result of being born into a
    superior culture. I highly recommend this video to anyone who would like to learn something about the conditions of mankind on this planet.

    Regards,

    Ed Dolan – Minnesota

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From cyclintom@gmail.com@21:1/5 to Edward Dolan on Wed Nov 16 11:25:18 2016
    On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 12:57:34 AM UTC-7, Edward Dolan wrote:
    "John B." wrote in message news:i6vgob1fma78meo1ipf7prtk0vguamgoad@4ax.com...
    [...]

    And how do I know? Well I have actually, unlike you, spent some time
    in places [West Papua?] where no man may have ever walked before.
    [...]

    If, instead of sitting home watching the T.V. you actually traveled to any of these remote regions you would find that the bulk of the poor primitive people are located along rivers and streams where there is
    an abundance of water and at least fish to eat. And even the Danu
    people, a stone age culture, in West Guinea who live as high as 3,000
    - 4,000 ft. above sea level and depend on agriculture for survival
    live along streams and rivers.

    Edward Dolan wrote:

    The kind of agriculture practiced in New Guinea was not capable of
    supporting a large population, but even so, the land was being fully
    occupied given the kind of economy that was available to them. Any elementary course in anthropology will explain why primitive peoples live where they live, but you were claiming that there are areas of the earth
    that were untrod by man. That is what I am disputing, not that some areas were difficult, if not impossible to settle. Only Antarctica was relatively untrod by man.
    [...]

    Again you speak without knowledge. In fact there aren't many people in New Guinea. No where that I worked, in roughly 5 years in the country,
    was there a town or village. The Danu, one of the largest tribes seem
    to have about 90,000 members, and the entire populating of W. New
    Guinea is estimated at 3.6 million and the population density seems to
    be 10 per sq. Km. Anthropologists describe the people as primarily
    living in villages along the rivers.

    New Guinea, like every other area of the world, was fully populated in accordance with the economy that prevailed there. An island the size of New Guiana with millions of people will have examined every square inch of that island. The brute fact of geography itself will determine how many people the land will support. Tropical areas only look rich and fertile, but they are not. New Guinea was supporting as many people as it could support. Besides reading some anthropology you should perhaps read Malthus, although
    I think primitive people were better at controlling their population than we are.
    [...]

    More about New Guinea:

    Has it ever occurred to you why Britain had an empire that covered the world while New Guinea remained mired in poverty and savagery? They are both about similar sized islands - and let us go with the progressive liberal view that all people are born equal. Why were the outcomes on these two islands so different? Frankly, I would have had a tough time answering that question myself, other than making some general observations that Britain was the repository of other earlier advanced civilizations whereas New Guinea was not.

    Sine you have an interest in New Guinea based on your stay there, here is a video which is a must view for you. It was an eye opener for me and I think it will be for you too. It is long and in 18 parts, but it will repay the time and effort you spend on it because it will teach you some hard lessons about mankind that you never knew, or least never thought about much.

    From a description of the YouTube video:

    “ Uploaded on Nov 5, 2007
    Episode One : Out of Eden (Part 1 of 6)

    Jared Diamond's journey of discovery began on the island of Papua New Guinea. There, in 1974, a local named Yali asked Diamond a deceptively simple question:

    "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black people had little cargo of our own?"

    Diamond realized that Yali's question penetrated the heart of a great mystery of human history -- the roots of global inequality.

    Why were Europeans the ones with all the cargo? Why had they taken over so much of the world, instead of the native people of New Guinea? How did Europeans end up with what Diamond terms the agents of conquest: guns, germs and steel? It was these agents of conquest that allowed 168 Spanish conquistadors to defeat an Imperial Inca army of 80,000 in 1532, and set a pattern of European conquest which would continue right up to the present day.

    Diamond knew that the answer had little to do with ingenuity or individual skill. From his own experience in the jungles of New Guinea, he had observed that native hunter-gatherers were just as intelligent as people of European descent -- and far more resourceful. Their lives were tough, and it seemed a terrible paradox of history that these extraordinary people should be the conquered, and not the conquerors.

    To examine the reasons for European success, Jared realized he had to peel back the layers of history and begin his search at a time of equality -- a time when all the peoples of the world lived in exactly the same way. ”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgnmT-Y_rGQ&index=1&list=PL21D82E72068E3035

    What prompted this post? John B. has spent years in New Guinea and thinks someone like me could not possibly know anything about conditions there. Alas for that view, anyone can know just about anything about anywhere in the world as a result of the kind of technology that is available to us today. All it takes is a willingness to learn.

    This video will make anyone who views it very humble about any professed superiority he might be deluded with as a result of being born into a superior culture. I highly recommend this video to anyone who would like to learn something about the conditions of mankind on this planet.

    Regards,

    Ed Dolan – Minnesota

    Ed - those climbing Mt. Everest are guided there by local natives who have climbed that highest of peaks before the white man came. The Amazon rain forest is so deep that no one knows it's full contents and yet they are finding "unknown" tribes.

    There isn't one spot on earth where man has not only trod but lived. Even Eskimos have lived in the Arctic and man presently lives in several research stations at the south pole.

    Man is the universal creature and there is no spot on earth where life can exist that man has not now or in the past existed.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From EdwardDolan@21:1/5 to Edward Dolan on Wed Nov 16 20:56:04 2016
    wrote in message
    news:6c82a479-f632-40d7-99ec-2fe7231d277c@googlegroups.com...

    On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 12:57:34 AM UTC-7, Edward Dolan wrote:
    "John B." wrote in message news:i6vgob1fma78meo1ipf7prtk0vguamgoad@4ax.com...
    [...]

    And how do I know? Well I have actually, unlike you, spent some time
    in places [West Papua?] where no man may have ever walked before.
    [...]

    If, instead of sitting home watching the T.V. you actually traveled to any of these remote regions you would find that the bulk of the poor primitive people are located along rivers and streams where there is
    an abundance of water and at least fish to eat. And even the Danu
    people, a stone age culture, in West Guinea who live as high as 3,000
    - 4,000 ft. above sea level and depend on agriculture for survival
    live along streams and rivers.

    Edward Dolan wrote:

    The kind of agriculture practiced in New Guinea was not capable of
    supporting a large population, but even so, the land was being fully
    occupied given the kind of economy that was available to them. Any elementary course in anthropology will explain why primitive peoples live where they live, but you were claiming that there are areas of the earth
    that were untrod by man. That is what I am disputing, not that some areas were difficult, if not impossible to settle. Only Antarctica was
    relatively
    untrod by man.
    [...]

    Again you speak without knowledge. In fact there aren't many people in New Guinea. No where that I worked, in roughly 5 years in the country,
    was there a town or village. The Danu, one of the largest tribes seem
    to have about 90,000 members, and the entire populating of W. New
    Guinea is estimated at 3.6 million and the population density seems to
    be 10 per sq. Km. Anthropologists describe the people as primarily
    living in villages along the rivers.

    New Guinea, like every other area of the world, was fully populated in accordance with the economy that prevailed there. An island the size of
    New
    Guiana with millions of people will have examined every square inch of
    that
    island. The brute fact of geography itself will determine how many people the land will support. Tropical areas only look rich and fertile, but
    they
    are not. New Guinea was supporting as many people as it could support. Besides reading some anthropology you should perhaps read Malthus,
    although
    I think primitive people were better at controlling their population than
    we
    are.
    [...]

    More about New Guinea:

    Has it ever occurred to you why Britain had an empire that covered the
    world
    while New Guinea remained mired in poverty and savagery? They are both
    about
    similar sized islands - and let us go with the progressive liberal view
    that
    all people are born equal. Why were the outcomes on these two islands so different? Frankly, I would have had a tough time answering that question myself, other than making some general observations that Britain was the repository of other earlier advanced civilizations whereas New Guinea was not.

    Sine you have an interest in New Guinea based on your stay there, here is
    a
    video which is a must view for you. It was an eye opener for me and I
    think
    it will be for you too. It is long and in 18 parts, but it will repay the time and effort you spend on it because it will teach you some hard
    lessons
    about mankind that you never knew, or least never thought about much.

    From a description of the YouTube video:

    “ Uploaded on Nov 5, 2007
    Episode One : Out of Eden (Part 1 of 6)

    Jared Diamond's journey of discovery began on the island of Papua New
    Guinea. There, in 1974, a local named Yali asked Diamond a deceptively
    simple question:

    "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo, but we black
    people had little cargo of our own?"

    Diamond realized that Yali's question penetrated the heart of a great
    mystery of human history -- the roots of global inequality.

    Why were Europeans the ones with all the cargo? Why had they taken over so much of the world, instead of the native people of New Guinea? How did Europeans end up with what Diamond terms the agents of conquest: guns,
    germs
    and steel? It was these agents of conquest that allowed 168 Spanish conquistadors to defeat an Imperial Inca army of 80,000 in 1532, and set a pattern of European conquest which would continue right up to the present day.

    Diamond knew that the answer had little to do with ingenuity or individual skill. From his own experience in the jungles of New Guinea, he had
    observed
    that native hunter-gatherers were just as intelligent as people of
    European
    descent -- and far more resourceful. Their lives were tough, and it seemed
    a
    terrible paradox of history that these extraordinary people should be the conquered, and not the conquerors.

    To examine the reasons for European success, Jared realized he had to peel back the layers of history and begin his search at a time of equality -- a time when all the peoples of the world lived in exactly the same way. ”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgnmT-Y_rGQ&index=1&list=PL21D82E72068E3035

    What prompted this post? John B. has spent years in New Guinea and thinks someone like me could not possibly know anything about conditions there.
    Alas for that view, anyone can know just about anything about anywhere in
    the world as a result of the kind of technology that is available to us today. All it takes is a willingness to learn.

    This video will make anyone who views it very humble about any professed superiority he might be deluded with as a result of being born into a superior culture. I highly recommend this video to anyone who would like
    to
    learn something about the conditions of mankind on this planet.

    Regards,

    Ed Dolan – Minnesota

    Ed - those climbing Mt. Everest are guided there by local natives who
    have climbed that highest of peaks before the white man came. The Amazon
    rain forest is so deep that no one knows it's full contents and yet they
    are finding "unknown" tribes.

    There isn't one spot on earth where man has not only trod but lived. Even
    Eskimos have lived in the Arctic and man presently lives in several
    research stations at the south pole.

    Man is the universal creature and there is no spot on earth where life
    can exist that man has not now or in the past existed.

    My God! Someone posting to Usenet who actually agrees with me! I am not used
    to this. But of course you are so right. If you are making your living by gathering and hunting, you will not allow any area of the earth to go unnoticed.

    Ed Dolan - Minnesota

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)