A blueprint for disaster in any society is when the elite are capable of insulating themselves.
Jared DiamondScience is often misrepresented as "the body of knowledge acquired by performing replicated controlled experiments in the laboratory." Actually, science is something broader: the acquisition of reliable knowledge about the world.
Jared DiamondWith the rise of chiefdoms around 7,500 years ago, people had to learn, for the first time in history, how to encounter strangers regularly without attempting to kill them.
Jared DiamondHistory followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves
Jared DiamondTwo types of choices seem to me to have been crucial in tipping the outcomes [of the various societies' histories] towards success or failure: long-term planning and willingness to reconsider core values. On reflection we can also recognize the crucial role of these same two choices for the outcomes of our individual lives.
Jared Diamond