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Jared Diamond and Papua New Guinea

Today in Western Civilization Mr. Schick had us watch a video that I thought was fascinating. A few things I learned is that Papua New Guinea, a country in the south eastern hemisphere where all those small island countries are hasn't really changed throughout about 40,000 years of the island being inhabited which I find amazing. A man named Jared Diamond, a biologist, author, and professor at UCLA went to Papua New Guinea and experienced first-hand what the New Guineans do in an everyday life for them. The New Guineans are much poorer than the modern American and are not nearly as advanced as American technology. A man named Yali asked a question that Jared is determined to find the answer to, "Why you white men have so much cargo and we have so little?" when Yali says "cargo" he really means material goods. Jared originally thought this was a simple question with a simple answer. But as he dug farther into the question, he found out that the question is much more complex than he originally thought. We never found the answer out because class ended before he said the answer. All of the great civilizations of history have had a few things in common: Advanced technology, (of their time) a large population, and an organized work force. Unfortunately for New Guineans, they have none of these things. The New Guineans are hunter gatherers which I guess you could call a "primal" way of finding and getting food. They've been this way for all 40,000 years of the island being inhabited. When he Americans came to Papua New Guinea, The New Guineans thought that they were better than them but the Americans thought they were better than the New Guineans. Throughout history, Colonials think power comes from race which would mean that the Americans would initially think that they have power over the New Guineans.

This is the end of my second blog.

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