Viswanathan K's Thoughts

In his masterpiece, Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond seeks to answer a question many ask: why did Europe go on to dominate the planet? Why didn’t the native Americans or Africans or Aborigines invade and dominate the world? And however much we dislike the possibility, is race the answer to such questions? Agriculture is supposed to be a turning point in human history. But they never explain how much and why . Diamond explains that and in doing so, also hits upon the answer to all of the questions in the first paragraph. First, agriculture could only start in places with certain characteristics, all of which are geographical, not racial: -          (Edible) plants in the region must grow easily and fast : If the plants took too much effort and/or time to bear fruit, our ancestors wouldn’t have bothered switching to agriculture. -          Animals that are relatively easy to domesticate as farm animals : Animal power for agriculture far outreached what humans could ac

In moments of idealism, we often find ourselves wishing for a simpler/better/less-evil’er world. Or hear others say something similar and smirk. While in some cases, it is definitely a possibility, in others, it is good to step back and think of the practicality of what is being hoped for. The first kind is worth wishing for: If you wish for a cleaner alternative to, say, fossil fuels, it could happen. While difficult, no law of physics prevents such a technology from being developed. Even being cheaper than existing fuels eventually. It could happen. If not today, maybe tomorrow. Or the day after. But not impossible. The other kind of wishful thinking is what does deserve a smirk. The kind where people hope for things that would violate the laws of physics: like hoping for a perpetual motion machine to “fix” the energy problem. Or the kind, and this is more common among idealists, wishing for things like world peace. These are cases where hope is based on human nature chan

Heard that story of how the native (Red) Indians sold the area known as New York today to the whites for a bunch of beads? Sounds crazy, until you realize that different cultures value different things. But if you thought all that was ancient history, think again. Like take this example: in most parts of the world, a kid who wins an award gets a gold star, a certificate, a pat on the back or sometimes even cash. In others? Well, they win guns and bombs! No really, I mean it: A couple of weeks back, an Islamist insurgent-run radio station in Somalia said it was awarding guns, bombs and books to three children in a Koran recital contest . I guess it’s stuff like this which led the Brits and Germans to announce that multiculturalism has failed in their countries. Because there is such a thing as too much tolerance.