Re: Re: guns, germs, steel

[Jim Devine <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sam Pawlett wrote:
> I forgot to add that the Carling theory seems to beg the question
> since  some societies have a higher level of pf's [productive forces]
> because they select out others without explaining how theses socities
> became that way in the first place.

Diamond initially explains why some countries have a higher level of
productive forces in terms of the plants and animals available, the
geography, the climate, etc. (He does not emphasize the role of genetic
differences between peoples (except for the role of resistance to diseases)
or even cultural differences. Some cultures are more open to technical
progress, but he treats this as a random variable. He presumes that all
individual humans are basically the same in terms of seeking ways to
improve their lives.) He then sees advantages as accumulating (as when the
shift from hunting & gathering to food production then encourages the
improvement of farming).

It should be stressed that in Diamond's work, the concept of "higher level
of productive forces" does not appear. If he had used that term, "higher"
would have been defined in terms of allowing a group to spread, grow in
population, and conquer others. As I noted in my original review (available
at http://clawww.lmu.edu/~JDevine/notes/gunsreview.html), technical
progress is implicitly defined in similar terms. That seems inadequate.

Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://liberalarts.lmu.edu/~jdevine