World Reading Day is approaching, and the Beijing News Book Review Weekly Cultural Living Room has planned and launched a series of online activities. At 19:00 on April 21 (Thursday), Beijing News Book Review Weekly, together with CITIC Publishing Group and Huaxia Wealth Management, invited Jared Diamond and Xiang Biao to be guests in the live broadcast room of Beijing News Book Review Weekly Cultural Living Room to discuss how human society has come to this day and where it will go.
Guns, Germs and Steel, Collapse, The World Before Yesterday, Upheaval... Jared Diamond, in his series of classic works, leads us to read human society from a whole new perspective.
From Diamond's works, we can outline the logic and trajectory of the development of human society to today, and we can also see that history is full of accidents and inevitability - history is intertwined with the violent uncertainty brought about by short-term decision-making, and it will also be affected by long-standing environmental and cultural factors.
Since January 2022, CITIC Publishing Group has published a series of Diamond classics. On the occasion of this year's World Reading Day, Beijing News Book Review Weekly, together with CITIC Publishing Group and Huaxia Wealth Management, invited Jared Diamond, professor of physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, and Xiang Biao, director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, to conduct an in-depth dialogue.
Beijing News Book Review Weekly
World Reading Day Online Reading Week series
Jared Diamond ×
How did human society get to where it is today?
And where will it go?
Guests
Jared Diamond
Professor of Physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, author of a series of works such as Guns, Germs and Steel.
Necklace
Director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Hosted guest
Qiu Yu
Researcher of "Hundred Talents Program" of Zhejiang University
Dialogue topics
(1) The footsteps of human civilization
Anthropological research experience tells us that observing marginalized groups that are far removed from current life can give us the power to reflect and re-examine the pace of human civilization.
In today's globalized world, the differences in living environments between groups have not ended. Multi-level differences in environment, culture, development and so on promote global division of labor and mobility. And many times, the flow and exchange of "center" and "periphery" is a two-way street, and the collapse of marginal societies can also have a huge impact on the prosperity of the center.
So, how should we understand the impact of these differences and interactions? How has it brought human society to where it is today, and how has it affected its future development?
(2) The crisis of modern society
Modern people have enjoyed the benefits brought about by the development of technology and civilization, but they have also fallen into a crisis of nowhere.
New technologies and developments solve some problems, but trigger more problems - environmental problems, vicious competition, inequality, technical difficulties, aging... Every problem lingers in modern society. How should we look at the current anxiety and crisis, how should we look at the connection and confrontation between individuals and individuals, and between individuals and society?
(3) Write history and society
Long-term observation and writing in-depth reality can deepen our understanding of phenomena and concepts. How can we delve into history and social reality and learn to "see the essence through phenomena"?
Live streaming time
Thursday, April 21, 2022
19:00
The exact time may be delayed depending on the activity
Please pay attention to the in-room notification
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Event-related books
Guns, Germs and Steel
Author: (U.S.) Jared Diamond
Translators: Wang Daohuan, Liao Yuejuan
Publisher: CITIC Publishing Group January 2022
Synopsis
Today, the wheel of human history depicted by Diamond in his book is still moving forward, and the crisis facing modern civilized society has long exceeded the dilemma of conquest and subjugation represented by guns, germs and steel. But humanity as a whole can still look to guns, germs, and steel as a whole in addressing the threats of global climate change, infectious disease pandemics, nuclear weapons, and resource depletion.
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Operations team
Planning and execution Editorial Department of Beijing News Book Review Weekly
Executive operation Duan Yaxin Yang Zihan
This article was edited by Wanting Lu
Poster design CITIC Publishing Group
This article is proofread by Lucy
Beijing News Book Review Weekly/ Cultural Living Room
Affiliated to the beijing news of the vertical media in the field of culture, since its inception in 2003, the beijing news book review weekly has been deeply involved in the dynamics of cultural publishing, providing readers with information on the publishing dynamics and academic dynamics in literature, social science, thought, history, art, film, education, new knowledge and other fields, providing in-depth cultural content such as special reports, explanatory reports, and in-depth interviews with creators.
In 2019, the Beijing News Book Review Weekly launched a series of activities based on existing content resources. The offline activities of the cultural living room aim to construct a three-dimensional content dissemination method through real communication with readers, and to understand and witness the changes of the times with real individuals.