Week 1: Here we go!

Brief overview

                When anyone is new to anything, an introduction is in order. The class began with everyone introducing themselves and then being introduced to the subject at hand. Then we got down to business. We viewed 2 videos, Part 1 of Guns, Germs and Steel and the original version of “Shift Happens”. We then had discussions on our readings, saw the British Telecommunications Timeline and finished the session.

My thoughts

                Here I will list down and elaborate on the things that got me thinking.

                When we watched the Guns, Germs and Steel video, we were shown that a small group of Spanish Conquistadors single-handedly brought ruin to an entire civilization. How could it be that this group of about less than 100 decimate an entire empire?  We were also introduced to the notion of Yali’s question (I ‘ve paraphrased it) “Why do white men have more cargo than the New Guineans?”

                From what I can understand in the book, it is a lot to do with geographical starting points. Did the place have decent lands for farming and a decent source of water? Did the place have raw materials for making tools? Did the place allow the settlers contact with other people? All these factors and more contribute to the development of the settlers.

Another vastly important observation I’ve made is the people’s intentions. The Maori and the Moriori are two different civilisations found in the Polynesian region. However, they are genetically similar as the Moriori are actually Maori who settled on Chatham Island and never saw anyone else for about 200 years. The Moriori saw how devastating war was and became peaceful while their Maori cousins continued waging war (and also winning sometimes) back home. The Maori had better weapons as they fought frequently while the Moriori weren’t well armed as they had no need for fighting. The Maori loved killing people and when they invaded Chatham Island they completely decimated and enslaved our peace-loving Moriori and justified their actions by saying “It’s our customs.”

Similarly, the Spanish Conquistadors had beaten back the Muslim Moors and taken Iberia. Seeing it as an extension of their Medieval crusades, they went out to the New World looking for places to make Spanish colonies in the name of their King and religion. At the end of the day, the amount of cargo you have doesn’t rely so much on human genetics as it does with geography, exposure to other nations and (perhaps) a hunger for conquest.

                Next, we heard from the professor how the Roman Empire fell after its glory days. Pax Romana was a time of peace and prosperity for all of Rome and things were good. Then people started getting sick. Then they died. The remaining people turned to the thinkers of the Roman society for help but they were as baffled and clueless as the ones talking to them. People became shut-ins, out of fear of contracting the disease and the Roman Empire began to crumble. Realising that they could not live on extended vacation forever, the people turned to religion who gave them a pat on the back and said “We’ll take care of you” The rest as they call it is the “Dark Ages”.

                In this matter it is interesting to note that there was a world change but it wasn’t based on progressive technological advancements. It was facilitated by a lack of development of medical technology. Had the Roman apothecaries actually developed an effective medicine to treat the plague, the disease itself would have been known as a minor inconvenience in Roman history. It just goes to show that world change can happen with or without technological change.

                Perhaps in the next lesson, we will be able to find out more about how human behavior develops the way it does throughout the course of history. While this might not have been given too much consideration in this class, it just might be discussed in out next class: “Technology Society and Global Dominance” and Technology and Human Development.”

                In this week’s class I found that time zipped by ludicrously fast. That would mean that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt quite organized and the subject matter did not feel boring in the least. There were some times when none of the members of our class could respond to the professor but I’m sure that we’ll all be better prepared in the future. Personally, I would give this lesson an 8 out of 10.