The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Jared Diamond)

Re:The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Ja... by mnemonicsloth on Thursday August 16, 2007 @09:30PM (#43312)

Massive self-aggrandizing factual error in the third paragraph:

It's a life that philosophers have traditionally regarded as nasty, brutish, and short.

Um, Jean Jacques Rousseau? Noble Savage? Only a few decades after Hobbes?

It may not be relevant to the case being made here, but come on. I remember writing "compare and contrast" papers on Hobbes and Rousseau in high school.

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Re:The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Ja... by mynameishere on Thursday August 16, 2007 @09:51PM (#43317)

Yes, the basic idea has been re-hashed endlessly:

http://www.thecourier.com/manifest.htm

It sort of bothers me that this is getting upmodded--not because it's off-topic, but because it's so painfully banal--every high schooler has already thought these things through completely, just like this:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42398

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Re:The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race (by Ja... by Tichy on Friday August 17, 2007 @05:38AM (#43415)

I didn't see the article as a manifesto against industrialism, despite the sensationalist title. Jared Diamond is a researcher, after all - I just found it informative to learn something about ancient societies, without jumping to conclusions from that.

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