Perhaps our greatest distinction as a species is our capacity, unique among animals, to make counter-evolutionary choices. — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Even to this day, no native Australian animal species and only one plant species-the macadamia nut-have proved suitable for domestication. There still… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Measles and TB evolved from diseases of our cattle, influenza from a disease of pigs, and smallpox possibly from a disease of… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Eurasia ended up with the most domesticated animal species in part because it's the world's largest land mass and offered the most… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Thousands of years ago, humans domesticated every possible large wild mammal species fulfilling all those criteria and worth domesticating, with the result… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Eurasia's main axis is east/west, whereas the main axis of the Americas is north/south. Eurasia's east/west axis meant that species domesticated in… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Why were there far more species of domesticated animals in Eurasia than in the Americas? The Americas harbor over a thousand native… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Livestock adopted in Africa were Eurasian species that came in from the north. Africa's long axis, like that of the Americas, is… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
In short, Europe’s colonization of Africa had nothing to do with differences between European and African peoples themselves, as white racists assume.… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
To science we owe dramatic changes in our smug self-image. Astronomy taught us that our Earth is not the center of the… — Jared Diamond Copy Share Image
Bird taxonomy is a difficult field because of the severe anatomical constraints imposed by flight. There are only so many ways to design a… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
What did the last Easter Islander say as he chopped down the last tree? The Easter Islanders didnt have anthropologists. — Jared Diamond Copy Share
“We come to conquer this land by his command, that all may come to a knowledge of God and of His Holy Catholic Faith;… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
“With the rise of chiefdoms around 7,500 years ago, people had to learn, for the first time in history, how to encounter strangers regularly… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
Human societies vary in lots of independent factors affecting their openness to innovation. — Jared Diamond Copy Share
No government is here forever. And there are other forces - the most potent force in our society, in fact, big business - doing… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
“Those parasites pass to a person from an eaten animal, but the virus causing laughing sickness (kuru) in the New Guinea highlands used to… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
“...invokes the supposed stimulatory effects of their homeland's cold climate and the inhibitory effects of hot, humid, tropical climates on human creativity and energy.… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
“Throughout the Americas, diseases introduced with Europeans spread from tribe to tribe far in advance of the Europeans themselves, killing an estimated 95 percent… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves — Jared Diamond Copy Share
We study the injustices of history for the same reason that we study genocide, and for the same reason that psychologists study the minds… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
I decided that now is the time to start doing the things that really interest me and I find important. It was in the… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
“As a result of that confined distribution, peoples who pride themselves on being civilized have always viewed writing as the sharpest distinction raising them… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
Infectious diseases introduced with Europeans, like smallpox and measles, spread from one Indian tribe to another, far in advance of Europeans themselves, and killed… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
In fact, everywhere in the world there has been a flux between big and small societies. Big political units are constantly being formed, later… — Jared Diamond Copy Share
