How and Why Civilisations Collapse, and What We Can Do About It

Scientist and Pulitzer-prize winning Author, Jared Diamond:

- Born September 10, 1937
- Is an American scientist and
- Author, whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA.
- He is best known for the award-winning popular science books 'The Third Chimpanzee'; 'Guns, Germs, and Steel'; and 'Collapse of Civilisations'.
- He has an assortment of prizes for his books, including the Pulitzer and the Rhône-Poulenc.
- Diamond has been called a polymath.

For 'The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (1991)', he discusses:

(Applies insights from biology, anthropology, and linguistics to questions such as why one species of big mammal (humans) came to dominate its closest relatives, such as chimpanzees, and why one group of humans (eurasians) came to dominate others (Indigenous peoples of the Americas).
It also examines how asymmetry in male and female mating behaviour is resolved through differing social structures across cultures, and how first contact between unequal civilizations almost always results in genocide.
The book ends by noting that technological progress may cause environmental degradation on a scale leading to extinction.)

- Reasons as to how and why humans came to dominate its closest relatives, the chimpanzee;
- How and why one group of humans, the Eurasians, came to dominate another group, such as the Indigenous peoples of the Americas;
- Suggestions that first contact between unequal civilizations almost always results in genocide;
- How technological progress may cause environmental degradation on a scale leading to extinction.

For 'Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997)', he discusses:

- Reasons for the success of Eurasian civilizations (including North Africa) in terms of having survived and conquered others
- How success originates in environmental differences - not intellectual, moral or inherent genetic superiority;
- How these gaps in power and technology between such human societies originate are amplified by various 'positive feedback loops';
- How cultural or genetic differences have favored Eurasians;
- How these advantages occurred because of the influence of geography on societies and cultures, and were not inherent in the Eurasian genomes;

In 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005)', Diamond discusses:

- His examination of societies in collapse which have used a  "framework", five "sets of factors": environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, loss of trading partners, and the society's own responses to its environmental

problems; - His view of countries in Southeast Asia when framed against your five factors;
- Some examples of societies which has collapsed: Angkor Wat - the Mayans;
- How environmental damage seems to be a recurring theme in your examination of societies in decline;
- In modern societies, his view on the challenges facing a developing nation like China - and how water and its shortages are major issues;
- And the challenges facing a developed nation like Australia - how its size negatively prejudices it;
- The kinds of attributes Malaysia needs to adopt in order to avoid collapse and whether historical precedent exists for this country as a means of instruction;

And, in 'Why is Sex Fun? (1997)', he discusses;

- The evolutionary development of human sexuality and their peculiarities;
- The reasons why humans have sex in private rather than in public, as is the case in all other mammals;

And personally:

- As a scientist, the (seeming anomaly of the) importance of religion in his life.