COLLAPSE - Jarred Diamond

zhao

there are no accidents
i normally dont share things that are commercially available, but this is just too important of a work, and i think it needs to be spread around as much as possible (trying not to sound corny or over dramatic but don't know how else to put it: the survival of our species is on the line).

for those who don't know, it's a book about the collapse of past civilizations -- how societies choose to survive or shoot themselves in the throat. for instance the chapter on how the Vikings in Greenland all starved and froze to death after living there for 500 years is really interesting... and he says something like "before you start laughing at the vikings, should remember that they survived in Greenland longer than europeans have survived in N. America. another highlight is when societies in the Solomon Islands descended to cannibalism, a popular insult was "I pick pieces of your mother from my teeth" :D:(:D:(:D:(:D:(

PM me for audio book
 

slim jenkins

El Hombre Invisible
Sounds interesting. That has to be the ultimate in insults.

I switch on TV, walk through Camden, tune in to mainstream radio and I know this society's on the verge of collapse...:eek: Or...it will go on and on as the final native tribe dies off whilst 'we' carry on working, watching TV, sleeping, worrying, sleeping, working, worrying, consuming useless information, sleeping, worrying, consuming trivia ad infinitum
 

zhao

there are no accidents
Sounds interesting. That has to be the ultimate in insults.

I switch on TV, walk through Camden, tune in to mainstream radio and I know this society's on the verge of collapse...:eek: Or...it will go on and on as the final native tribe dies off whilst 'we' carry on working, watching TV, sleeping, worrying, sleeping, working, worrying, consuming useless information, sleeping, worrying, consuming trivia ad infinitum

when China spends millions and billions on vanity projects like launching rockets and controlling the weather for the olympics (fucking absurd) and largely ignores its various gravely serious envirnonmental problems -- a patient with cancer which is about to become terminal any day spending his time and limited budget on a nose job.

when similar attitudes can be found in the US and many other places...

the picture certainly is not looking too good right now :(

EDIT: but this conversation is getting depressing. I'll be in the clothes thread looking at myself in the mirror.
 
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you

Well-known member
Thanks so much for this zhao, i needed to find something else to dwell on. The risky structure of a civilization built on imports and trade is of great concern. Im pretty sure most countrys wouldnt actually function- i.e carry on alive, if imports were to stop.... could the UK actually grow enough food to support its population???

Cannibalism is interesting, chimpanzees do it, but last time i heard about it the narrator said its unknown if the act is related to hunger and protein needs or if its more of a symbolic act - they dont eat their own group- only members from rival gangs when they start a ruckus on a Friday night.... y'know..

I found the opening part about montana and easter island very good too. I havent finished it yet so excuse me if this is a naff thing to say but are the enviromental problems, the exhausting of resources etc something we will never be able to foresee or avoid - like the predicting of economies? - the predictions create reactions which create an endless spiral of causational complexities??? So every time a group changes to use a better resource or avoid a problem another is created albeit inevitable???? Screw it, if we are doomed in the word of Coogan "i'll be damned if im not going redline a cleveland cutie just so a polar bear wont get its paws wet"....
 

zhao

there are no accidents
you are very welcome.

i needed to find something else to dwell on.

besides dubstep? sorry had to be done :)

Cannibalism is interesting, chimpanzees do it, but last time i heard about it the narrator said its unknown if the act is related to hunger and protein needs or if its more of a symbolic act - they dont eat their own group- only members from rival gangs when they start a ruckus on a Friday night.... y'know..

i've mentioned this before in another thread but:

2 kinds of cannibalism practiced by humans: internal and external. internal is a form of respect and compassion - eating of dead loved ones - a cherishing and consecration and recycling of their life energy. external is eating of enemies that you kill, as a celebration of victory and expression of contempt.

true story: anthropologist talking to a cannibal about WW2 and the cannibal asks

"but how do you eat the millions of dead?"
"um... we don't eat them"
"but that's barbaric! to kill and not eat!" said the cannibal, horrified.

are the enviromental problems, the exhausting of resources etc something we will never be able to foresee or avoid - like the predicting of economies? - the predictions create reactions which create an endless spiral of causational complexities???

the exhausting of resources is very clearly documented, especially today. but for instance figures like 80% of large fish gone from the oceans is not stopping the fishing industry. at all. in fact they are climbing over each other to get the last few.
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I heard about this one cannibal group where they ate defeated enemies not because (as you might think) they thought they'd take on the characteristics (strength, bravery...) of an honoured foe - but because the greatest insult they can conceive of is to eat someone and then shit them out afterwards. Now that is HARDCORE.
 
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