Two Roman Questions (pages 124-129)

Please post your two most thoughtful questions here. You should have many more questions in your questions log, and you should aim to answer the more discrete questions in your reading notes. We'll share via SynchronEyes in class Monday.

Two questions about Rome

Please post here. Post only your two most thoughtful questions. Your question log will contain more questions and you should research a few of the more straightforward questions for a few minutes each.

2 more ATG questions

Post your two most thoughtful ATG questions here
for pages 7-11 of the document about Alexander The Great.

Alexander The Great questions

Post at least three questions you had about ATG here.

Just post the questions.

We'll talk in class about the one that you pursued in more depth in class.

Where and when will your civilization be?

Please post here your thoughts about where (and when) you'd like to locate your civilization in space and time. Explain the rationale for your choice.

Gilgamesh -- what do you think?

Please post comments, questions, etc. here by 9 p.m. Wed night

Jared Diamond continued

In class, we came up with the following notes/questions (pasted below)

Please address any of these questions and/or the larger question of whether agriculture was a mistake.

Please read other people's postings before you jump in, so you can see who you agree with and who you disagree with.

* * * NOTES FROM CLASS * * *

But this begs the question of… what do we mean by “better off”?

What makes a civilization successful?


Happy people – if people are not content w/ the way things are they will fight to change it
Happiness differs from contentment

Healthy people – enough doctors

Agreement/peace/security (you can cross the road and not be messed with)

Stability – Leadership/government

No starvation or poverty (or as little as possible)
Having as much food as they need

As high a standard of living as possible

The people that are not the government (citizens) need something to do

Room to change –

Controlled growth and development

Not decreasing in people

Can you grow too much?

Civilization – advanced state with high levels of science industry and govt

Equality or social status everyone agrees with
Hard to get –

Are we looking for a utopia? (Brave New World)

More jobs that use the mind