Day 1, January 25th, 2011

We watched a video in class today called "Guns, Germs, and Steel". The movie is about a man named Jared Diamond. Jared Diamond is a professor. 

Papua New Guinea - is a weird sort of corner of the world. Diamond came here for the first time at 27 years old. 

Diamond is a professor at UCLA in L.A.

His real passion is the study of birds. 

In the course of his field work he has become just as interested with the people of Papua New Guinea. He has learned several of their languages. Their have been people living in New Guinea for more than 40,000 years. This is more than people in North and South America. Europeans first got to America about 500 years ago, apposed to 40,000. 

"Why do you white man have so much cargo and we Guineans have so little?"

This is a question a New Guinean man asked Jared Diamond. Jared Diamond thought he new but when asked, he found that he did not.

New Guineans use the word cargo to describe the material goods first brought to their country by western man.

They thought that power was determined by race. To them it was normal for the white men to have so much cargo and the New Guineans have so little.

Jared Diamond was impressed by their ability to learn so quickly.

In the environment of the New Guinean's Jared Diamond could not live their for any period of time without them.

Why are the New Guinean's not using any metal tools and they are using things tools and things from thousands of years ago? They are so called stuck in the past.

Jared Diamond does not  believe that white men are any more smart than the New Guineans.

The white men just had the ability to take the New Guineans over.

The New Guineans trap squirrels and build a fire. The New Guineans are very self efficient, self reliant people. They are very good at what they do. They just don't have the same material to use that Americans do.

Jared Diamond is trying to figure out how some civilizations don't have all the opportunity and materials that other civilizations do.

Jared Diamond's theory centers around that if you have guns and some body else doesn't you are able to dominate and manipulate other people.

That is why people who came to Papua New Guinea came with guns had a greater advantage of the New Guineans only had stones.