Historians study the past by asking what happened. Dr. Jared Diamond, evolutionary biologist and renowned author, argues it is equally important to ask why events happened in the specific way they did.
Addressing an audience of 1,300 at Memorial Union Tuesday, Diamond discussed his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, \Guns, Germs, and Steel"" as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. Diamond is a professor of physiology in the UCLA School of Medicine.
Diamond began by describing why some historical empires flourished while others were easily conquered.
""The ingredients for conquest were metallurgy, writing, political society, germs and standing armies. The empires that had these defeated those that didn't,"" he said.
He said societies with developed agriculture could generate food surpluses to support non-food-growers, who then had the freedom to specialize as soldiers or bureaucrats.
""But only a tiny minority of plants lend themselves to being domesticated, so those places where these plants grew got a head start on creating the tools of conquest,"" Diamond said.
These areas included the Fertile Crescent, the southeast United States and the Andes.
However, even though China had the tools for conquest, it didn't conquer lands with the frequency and fervor of European countries.
""But Columbus asked Italy, France, Portugal and Spain for resources, and he finally got them. Because Europe was fragmented, unlike China, Columbus had access to more resources,"" Diamond said.
Diamond said his book received praise from Bill Gates, who saw parallels between evolutionary history and business strategy. Gates said Microsoft's fragmented corporate culture resembles Europe's, giving Microsoft the ability to continuously innovate.
Dr. Timothy Allen, UW-Madison professor of botany, said Diamond's book was beautifully written, but acknowledged other possible interpretations of historical catastrophes.
""Sometimes a [social] system becomes so complex that it loses the flexibility to adapt,"" Allen said. ""Whereas Diamond would say the cause is entirely environmental, some might argue the system actually became so complex that it was just an accident waiting to happen.""
""On such a liberal campus, it's refreshing to get a scientific perspective on international relations and societal development,"" UW-Madison junior Dave Ponce said. ""What Diamond says seems so common sense, but he brings science to a level of relative consciousness.\
