In fact, among the scientific community as a whole, I’m better known for my work on birds than for my work on gallbladders. But you somehow managed to carry on, as far as I can tell, three careers in parallel, because you haven’t mentioned anything about birds, but I’ve read that you’re quite a well-known ornithologist as well.ĭIAMOND: Yes. LEVITT: So, I didn’t realize you actually stuck with gallbladders for decades. And in 2002, finally, I switched to the department of geography here at U.C.L.A. So, that was when I started writing books. But then gradually my interest shifted - or rather shifted back - to history and geography. So, that’s how I got a job as professor of physiology at U.C.L.A. I was one of the world’s five experts on the gallbladder. The simplest organ that I could think of was the gallbladder, which was just a hollow sack. thesis, because I’m technologically inept. It was comfortably far from where I grew up and it was a world leader in physiology. And so, having spent all my life until then in Boston, I went off to Cambridge, England. Once I got to college, I realized what interested me was science. And every day, dad switched the pins to show the advance of the battle lines. My father pinned up on the wall of my bedroom two maps: the map of Europe and map of Pacific. And then I was born in 1937, so I grew up during World War II. So, I also grew up with an interest in languages and in music. So, I grew up with science in front of my eyes, but my mother was a concert pianist and a linguist. LEVITT: So, I’m curious, how did you initially get into the study of gallbladders?ĭIAMOND: My father was a physician. There are not many gallbladder experts who considered dropping out of science and then turned into geographers. Few listeners, however, will have sampled your earlier writings like “Transport of Salt and Water in Rabbit and Guinea Pig Gallbladder,” or maybe “Effects of pH and Polyvalent Cations on the Selective Permeability of Gallbladder Epithelium to Monovalent Ions.” I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say your research focus has changed more over time than anyone that I’ve ever known.ĭIAMOND: It’s true. LEVITT: So, many listeners know your books like Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse - massive bestsellers. First, how could anyone know so much about so many things as he does? And second, what sort of arrogance - err - self-confidence does it take to think that you can unravel some of the biggest, toughest questions in human history? My goal today is to figure out the answer to both those questions. I’ve long marveled over two things about Jared Diamond. Welcome to People I (Mostly) Admire, with Steve Levitt. What might surprise you is that the study of civilizations, it wasn’t his first career, it wasn’t even his second career.ĭIAMOND: The MacArthur grant means that people think that you can do more valuable things than gallbladders and even more valuable thing than New Guinea birds. And while the harm has been mostly to the countries themselves, the transition to a decarbonized future is increasingly at stake.My guest today, Jared Diamond, has written some of the bestselling popular science books of all time, including Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse. Instead, too many hinder the development of their natural resources and the activities that could be crowded in. This practice originated centuries ago, with kings and emperors, and has been maintained and broadly supported as a way to ensure that natural wealth benefits the country rather than foreign imperialists or private corporations.īut to benefit the country, the state must be a responsible landowner. Such resources belong to the state, which may exploit them directly or grant concessions to private capitalists in exchange for a piece of the action. No wonder many countries – including all of Latin America – prohibit private ownership of the mineral resources in the sub-soil. While workers put in effort, and capitalists put their resources at risk, landowners are often depicted as living off the efforts of others, playing no useful social function. CAMBRIDGE – Landowners are seldom seen as heroes.
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