Comments on: Diplomacy among the aliens

By: Knowledge is not value-free | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine

Knowledge is not value-free | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:24:15 +0000

[...] are awesome. I am weak at language acquisition myself, but, as someone with an interest in Bronze Age Near Eastern history I’m obviously invested in people having some comprehension of Sumerian and Akkadian (not to [...]

By: Atheists may lack essence · Secular Right

Atheists may lack essence · Secular Right — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:54:30 +0000

[...] Fiction, popular science nonfiction, and nonfiction out of my domain of primary focus (e.g., this scholarly book I reviewed) I have no compunction with throwing away or selling to the used book store, because I never [...]

By: Randy McDonald

Randy McDonald — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:10:30 +0000

Well, “Nilotic” seemed more compact than “Ancient Egyptian.”

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:28:16 +0000

the author above argues that mitanni were the key. that empire spanned modern syria and northern iraq, as basically between the three other polities. it had relations with all three, and all three eventually had to have relations with each other because of their relations with the mitanni (initially mitanni was hostile to egypt, then it became egypt’s ally against the hittites, and eventually it was turned into a hittite vassal). more generally the basic system had its template 1,000 years earlier, as syrian and mesopotamian city-states already have diplomatic relationships. and sargon of akkad did unify those regions, from the lebanon coast to the borders of elam.

p.s. usage of the term nilotic is going to confuse people because of contemporary valence

By: Randy McDonald

Randy McDonald — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:19:24 +0000

How did Nilotic and Mesopotamian civilization end up forming their greater Near Eastern community of the elites in the first place? So far as I know, there wasn’t a single empire comprising this entire area until the Persians milennia later.

By: bioIgnoramus

bioIgnoramus — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:01:07 +0000

“But I am not convinced that there is a true “brotherhood” between the president of China, and Western powers, and that is not a cheery prospect.”
Ah, the inscrutability conjecture.

By: Luke Lea

Luke Lea — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:32:59 +0000

It is hard to generalize about civilizations in general but it is possible, I think, to make one generalization (or, if you prefer, hypothesis) concerning the handful of “pristine” civilizations, by which I mean the ones that first arose in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Mexico, and Peru: They all began with military conquest or as a defensive response to military conquests around them (Sumer). With the possible exception of Egypt (because of its unusual geographical situation) they evolved into systems of warring states in a relentless competition for power. Before agriculture conquest — the subjugation of one group by another — was not feasible (though war and ethnic cleansing were) and it is this military/political development which is decisive in my opinion. I would even go so far as to describe it as a sociological law of historical development, maybe the only one.

By: Tweets that mention Diplomacy among the aliens | Gene Expression | Discover Magazine -- Topsy.com

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:24:36 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by razib khan, J.S.. J.S. said: Diplomacy among the aliens http://ow.ly/181Cfz [...]

By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:39:35 +0000

A United Nations’ monument to diplomacy would be three sets of books: the public set bound in leather, the thieves’ private set plated in gold, and the Bilderberg Group accounting set mounted between cold iron covers.