Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Academic and best-selling science author, professor of geography, known for his pioneering theories on why cultures develop, civilizations collapse, and societi
On the island
Eight records
In conversation
Presenter asks
7:52Some critics called your arguments geographical determinism and feel it de-emphasizes the agency of colonizers. How do you respond to those criticisms?
A polite one-word response is nonsense, and a more detailed response is geographic determinism, as if that's a bad thing. Geography has big influences. Try standing at the North Pole in January in a T-shirt and shorts, and you will discover geographic determinism. On the other hand, the differences between North and South Korea today have nothing to do with geography. They have to do with short-term political history. Geography has big effects on some things, and culture and genetics have big effects on other things. What this goes back to is the discomfort that some academics feel in suggesting that there's any limit to humans' abilities, as if the human spirit should be able to triumph over everything. Well, again, try standing on the North Pole in a T-shirt in the winter and see where the human spirit can get you.
Presenter asks
11:29Tell me about your parents. What kind of parents were they?
Mum began piano early, debuted as a professional pianist. In the days of silent films, in the 1920s, mum improvised for silent films. In college, she studied modern languages, then she became a teacher. And it was mum who helped me learn German, mum who helped me pass Latin. I've loved languages ever since. At age 62, I began learning my last language, my 13th language, Italian. I love it. I read it every day, but it takes so much time, I'm not going to learn another language. So that was from mum, from dad. Dad was a physician, a scientist, and it's from dad that came my love of science. And there are immigrants on both sides. Dad's family came over after the Kishinev pogrom of 1904. Mum's family came over in 1888.
The keepsakes
The book
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Author Conan Doyle's Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes, because I love it. It's great writing. The curious fact of the dog at night. Watson says The dog did nothing. Sherlock Holmes That was the curious fact. And it was the clue that the person who did the bad thing was known to the dog.
The luxury
Six cases of Scharzhofberger Kabinett
Six cases of Scharzhofberg Cabinet, the German wine from the Saare. Very light with earthy taste, like a miniature champagne.
Presenter asks
20:01How did spending time in New Guinea change your perspective?
Oh, New Guinea has changed my outlook on life both in specific ways and in more general ways. In specific ways, my children were born just before my 50th birthday. I hadn't thought much about bringing up children in the U.S. And so when our children arrived, my model for bringing up children was New Guinea. I brought up children the way children are brought up in New Guinea, which is to allow them lots of freedom. New Guineans allow their kids more freedom than I would permit. I did not let my kids play with knives the way New Guinea kids do. But I did let my children make their choices early. And so at age three, my son Max made a choice. He saw a snake. He was love at first sight. He wanted snakes. All right, Marie and I got him a pet snake. We were careful. It wasn't poisonous. It wasn't an anaconda. It was a perfectly safe pet snake. And he eventually built up to 147 pet snakes and frogs and lizards in our house. Well, this is a kid who learned at age three to make his choices.
Presenter asks
28:25How did you feel when you were awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant?
You don't know that you nominated. So one day on the telephone, there was a guy who called up, and it was a long first sentence. I'm director of the fellowship program on the MacArthur Foundation, and I'm calling to tell you that you have been awarded a MacArthur grant, which will be for five years with this amount of money per year. There are no responsibilities, but there's a meeting each year which you're free to attend, but you don't have to attend. And you would think that I would be overjoyed. I'm an upbeat person. The next day I had the only depression in my adult life. For a week, I was depressed because the award conveyed to me, Jared, big things are expected of you. Think of what Doc Elliott said. But you've been spending your time on gallbladders. And yes, you're good at gallbladders. But you can do more than that. What are you going to do to justify this award that you just got? In the course of the first week, I gradually thought, I've got to do more than gallbladders. I'll put my time into history and geography, which is also what's going to make the difference for Max's and Joshua's world.
Presenter asks
31:29Are we doing enough to tackle our environmental problems, given the parallels with societies that collapsed?
No, of course we're not doing enough to tackle them. We're doing something to tackle them. But the world is still on a non-sustainable course. By that I mean that we citizens of the world are using essential world resources, notably fish, trees, topsoil and fresh water. These resources that regenerate themselves for the most part and therefore in theory could go on forever. provided that you don't chop down trees faster than new trees grow up, or provided that you don't catch fish faster than adult fish breed baby fish. The fact is that we know how to manage world resources sustainably, and at the rate we're going, we will run out of essential world resources within the next several decades. Therefore, it's up for grabs, because if we're not on a sustainable course by 2050, we've lost our chance and we're over the cliff.
Presenter asks
33:22How optimistic are you about the future of our own civilization?
On the one hand, the world suffers serious problems, which we all know about. Climate change, non-sustainable resource use, inequality around the world, terrorism, and the nuclear risk. So, yes, we face big problems. That's the bad news. The good news is that the bad problems are all ones of our own making. We are at risk from things that we are doing ourselves and that we could choose to stop doing. We don't need new technology. We are making the mess with our current technology. We could stop making the mess with our current technology. So, it's completely within our power. It depends upon the political will. rather than any magic, whether we're going to solve our problems. And I'm cautiously optimistic because in addition to all the bad signs in the US and Britain, at least in the US, I see increasing signs that particularly young people are getting more concerned about our future and are making good choices. And what I tell young people is vote and tell all your friends to vote.
“Doc Elliott said to me, Jared, someday you're going to unify the sciences and the humanities. Grossly hubristic. And I would not say that I've unified the sciences and the humanities. But it is the case that I have broad interests.”
“Construct a paranoia. That's my philosophy of life. It drives crazy. My friends who've not been through similar circumstances, my kids, Max and Joshua, tease me about it because they know I insist on getting to the airport early. And my kids will say, Daddy, the plane is tomorrow at 5 o'clock. Why aren't you going to the airport now, the night before?”
“I'm an upbeat person. The next day I had the only depression in my adult life. For a week, I was depressed because the award conveyed to me, Jared, big things are expected of you.”
“The good news is that the bad problems are all ones of our own making. We are at risk from things that we are doing ourselves and that we could choose to stop doing.”