1/18/13 - W-Civ assignment & day's blog post

Today in class we reviewed and read the first chapter of our Western Civilization books, as well as taking notes on good and easy way to take notes, which will also help us in future classes and collage. In the beginning of the chapter is talked about how the basic features of human existence include the following: language, religion, art, technology, farming, family life, and village communities. All of which originated from prehistoric times. Since we the chapter is talking so much about pre-history, it was important to know what the word means, and prehistory means the billions of years people lived on the earth. The very first civilizations on earth that are known is Mesopotamia  and Egypt. The paragraph also talked about economic structures which include the following: governments, writing systems, religious beliefs, scientific/technical achievements, literary/artistic styles. Those achievements began to spread to each other and neighbors. Civilizations interacted for a variety of bad and good reasons, the bad reasons included wars, stealing, and disagreeing with one another. Good reasons included sharing ideas, helping each other, and etc. The spread of civilizations never ends, and never will. In 1200 B.C. that was where the international regions of civilizations became local versions of Mesopotamia/Egypt. Mesopotamia is in the "fertile crescent" which also relates on Jared Diamond. The second chapter talked about (Before Civilization) the beginning talked about how 2.5 million years ago that is when humans first appeared on the earth. Also, a 1,000 of centuries to take their first steps before civilizations. The pre-historic era finally ended with the rise of civilized societies. The first human like species appeared in East Africa. Lastly, 14,000 years ago the human race became world wide.


Assignment: Was Jared Diamond on track with his theory of "geographic luck?"

Some say Jared Diamond wasn’t on point with geographic luck, which is the theory Jared Diamond created, of which why the European conquest of the Americas was so successful. Personally I think he was. While reading about his theories in previous units, and now looking at actual historical facts, his theory matches up to the book we are now reading, which is Western Civilization: WCIV. I do understand where people are coming from when they don’t believe in his theory, it is very difficult to think that humans changed over time. The human mind may think that we were naturally always the way we are, and never will change. I would disagree with Jared if he didn’t use as much facts to support it, as well as having evidence of when he traveled all over the world, and to places including New Guinea, which is still living in the past. Overall, I do support and agree with Jared Diamonds theory of Geographical Luck.