Jared Diamond

1. Please describe the background of the dispute between Dr. Samuel Huntington and Dr. Serge Lang: Dr.Samuel Huntington was an academic scholar who was trying to get membership of the National Academy of Sciences. However, Dr. Serge Lang complained about his membership calling his statistics "opinion" and not valid.
2. How did Lang respond to Huntington’s “pseudo mathematics?” He sent out large packages of photocopied documents ad homenen attacks against Huntington.
3. What aspects of the dispute between Lang and Huntington are “political?” How does the author, Jared Diamond, feel about “Academic Freedom?” Diamond feels that this is wrong upon Huntinton's political liberty.
4. Why does the NAS exist? Why does this make that attacks against Huntington seem peculiar? The US government wanted to have a group to consult on problems. Huntington did as they asked and they was criticized by them for it.
5. Why does Diamond find fault in the traditional perceptions of the hard sciences? Its "the enterprise of explaining and predicting -- gaining knowledge of -- natural phenomena, by continually testing one's theories against empirical evidence."
6. Why are soft sciences difficult to study? Cannot control the social aspect.
7. How did the NAS need to change in the early 1970s? In order to stay in business so that the government can talk to people who are expert in that field.
8. What are the problems in “operationalizing” a concept? Too many uncontrollable variables.
9. Briefly describe how Diamond illustrates operationalizing in:

10. · Mathematics- Able to count the number of bananas to prove which tree has more
    

    · Chemistry- To measure the concentration of sugars

    · Ecology- To find a foliage height diversity index

    Psychology- Questionnaires can be used to measure moods.

    
    

    What were Huntington’s operationalized concepts that provoked the wrath of Lang? Frustrations and problems.

11. Why is the task of operationalizing more difficult and less exact in the soft sciences? Why does it lead to the ridicule of the soft sciences? Too many uncontrollable variables leads to problems with other "scientists"
12. Why does Diamond believe that Lang might be ignorant of the measurements taken by social scientists like Huntington? Because there is no true way to measure either science.
13. Does Diamond believe the labels associated with the sciences be replaced? Explain. Yes because it gives the wrong impression.
14. Does Diamond believe the soft sciences to be more valuable than hard sciences? Do you agree? Explain. Diamond thinks that to understands people is more important. Yes because to understand oneself and thus another helps us move forward as a society yet without hard science we would still be trying to figure out the wheel or fire.