The Rational Optimist (54 page)

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• Abbasids 161, 178
  
• Abelard, Peter 358
  
• aborigines (Australian): division of labour 62, 63, 76; farming 127; technological regress 78–84; trade 90–91, 92
  
• abortion, compulsory 203
  
• Abu Hureyra 127
  
• Acapulco 184
  
• accounting systems 160, 168, 196
  
• Accra 189
  
• Acemoglu, Daron 321
  
• Ache people 61
  
• Acheulean tools 48–9, 50, 275, 373
  
• Achuar people 87
  
• acid rain 280, 281, 304–6, 329, 339
  
• acidification of oceans 280, 340–41
  
• Adams, Henry 289
  
• Aden 177
  
• Adenauer, Konrad 289
  
• Aegean sea 168, 170–71
  
• Afghanistan 14, 208–9, 315, 353
  
• Africa: agriculture 145, 148, 154–5, 326; AIDS epidemic 14, 307–8, 316, 319, 320, 322; colonialism 319–20, 321–2; demographic transition 210, 316, 328; economic growth 315, 326–8, 332, 347; international aid 317–19, 322, 328; lawlessness 293, 320; life expectancy 14, 316, 422; per capita income 14, 315, 317, 320; poverty 314–17, 319–20, 322, 325–6, 327–8; prehistoric 52–5, 65–6, 83, 123, 350; property rights 320, 321, 323–5; trade 187–8, 320, 322–3, 325, 326, 327–8;
  see also individual countries
  
• African-Americans 108
  
• agricultural employment: decline in 42–3; hardships of 13, 219–20, 285–6
  
• agriculture: early development of 122–30, 135–9, 352, 387, 388; fertilisers, development of 135, 139–41, 142, 146, 147, 337; genetically modified (GM) crops 28, 32, 148, 151–6, 283, 358; hybrids, development of 141–2, 146, 153; and trade 123, 126, 127–33, 159, 163–4; and urbanisation 128, 158–9, 163–4, 215;
  see also
  farming; food supply
  
• Agta people 61–2
  
• aid, international 28, 141, 154, 203, 317–19, 328
  
• AIDS 8, 14, 307–8, 310, 316, 319, 320, 322, 331, 353
  
• AIG (insurance corporation) 115
  
• air conditioning 17
  
• air pollution 304–5
  
• air travel: costs of 24, 37, 252, 253; speed of 253
  
• aircraft 257, 261, 264, 266
  
• Akkadian empire 161, 164–5
  
• Al-Ghazali 357
  
• Al-Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa 115
  
• Al-Qaeda 296
  
• Albania 187
  
• Alcoa (corporation) 24
  
• Alexander the Great 169, 171
  
• Alexander, Gary 295
  
• Alexandria 171, 175, 270
  
• Algeria 53, 246, 345
  
• alphabet, invention of 166, 396
  
• Alps 122, 178
  
• altruism 93–4, 97
  
• aluminium 24, 213, 237, 303
  
• Alyawarre aborigines 63
  
• Amalfi 178
  
• Amazon (corporation) 21, 259, 261
  
• Amazonia 76, 138, 145, 250–51
  
• amber 71, 92
  
• ambition 45–6, 351
  
• Ames, Bruce 298–9
  
• Amish people 211
  
• ammonia 140, 146
  
• Amsterdam 115–16, 169, 259, 368
  
• Amsterdam Exchange Bank 251
  
• Anabaptists 211
  
• Anatolia 127, 128, 164, 165, 166, 167
  
• Ancoats, Manchester 214
  
• Andaman islands 66–7, 78
  
• Andes 123, 140, 163
  
• Andrew, Deroi Kwesi 189
  
• Angkor Wat 330
  
• Angola 316
  
• animal welfare 104, 145–6
  
• animals: conservation 324, 339; extinctions 17, 43, 64, 68, 69–70, 243, 293, 302, 338–9; humans’ differences from other 1, 2–4, 6, 56, 58, 64
  
• Annan, Kofi 337
  
• Antarctica 334
  
• anti-corporatism 110–111, 114
  
• anti-slavery 104, 105–6, 214
  
• antibiotics 6, 258, 271, 307
  
• antimony 213
  
• ants 75–6, 87–8, 192
  
• apartheid 108
  
• apes 56–7, 59–60, 62, 65, 88;
  see also
  chimpanzees; orang-utans
  
• ‘apocaholics’ 295, 301
  
• Appalachia 239
  
• Apple (corporation) 260, 261, 268
  
• Aquinas, St Thomas 102
  
• Arabia 66, 159, 176, 179
  
• Arabian Sea 174
  
• Arabs 89, 175, 176–7, 180, 209, 357
  
• Aral Sea 240
  
• Arcadia Biosciences (company) 31–2
  
• Archimedes 256
  
• Arctic Ocean 125, 130, 185, 334, 338–9
  
• Argentina 15, 186, 187
  
• Arikamedu 174
  
• Aristotle 115, 250
  
• Arizona 152, 246, 345
  
• Arkwright, Sir Richard 227
  
• Armenians 89
  
• Arnolfini, Giovanni 179
  
• art: cave paintings 2, 68, 73, 76–7; and commerce 115–16; symbolism in 136; as unique human trait 4
  
• Ashur, Assyria 165
  
• Asimov, Isaac 354
  
• Asoka the Great 172–3
  
• aspirin 258
  
• asset price inflation 24, 30
  
• Assyrian empire 161, 165–6, 167
  
• asteroid impacts, risk of 280, 333
  
• astronomy 221, 270, 357
  
• Athabasca tar sands, Canada 238
  
• Athens 115, 170, 171
  
• Atlantic Monthly
  293
  
• Atlantic Ocean 125, 170
  
• Attica 171
  
• Augustus, Roman emperor 174
  
• Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony 184–5
  
• Australia: climate 127, 241, 300, 334; prehistoric 66, 67, 69–70, 127; trade 187;
  see also
  aborigines (Australian); Tasmania
  
• Austria 132
  
• Ausubel, Jesse 239, 346, 409
  
• automobiles
  see
  cars axes: copper 123, 131, 132, 136, 271; stone 2, 5, 48–9, 50, 51, 71, 81, 90–91, 92, 118–19, 271
  

• Babylon 21, 161, 166, 240, 254, 289
  
• Bacon, Francis 255
  
• bacteria: cross fertilisation 271; and pest control 151; resistance to antibiotics 6, 258, 271, 307; symbiosis 75
  
• Baghdad 115, 177, 178, 357
  
• Baines, Edward 227
  
• Baird, John Logie 38
  
• baking 124, 130
  
• ‘balance of nature’, belief in 250–51
  
• Balazs, Etienne 183
  
• bald eagles 17, 299
  
• Bali 66
  
• Baltic Sea 71, 128–9, 180, 185
  
• Bamako 326
  
• bananas 92, 126, 149, 154, 392
  
• Bangladesh 204, 210, 426
  
• Banks, Sir Joseph 221
  
• Barigaza (Bharuch) 174
  
• barley 32, 124, 151
  
• barrels 176
  
• bartering vii, 56–60, 65, 84, 91–2, 163, 356
  
• Basalla, George 272
  
• Basra 177
  
• battery farming 104, 145–6
  
• BBC 295
  
• beads 53, 70, 71, 73, 81, 93, 162
  
• beef 186, 224, 308;
  see also
  cattle bees, killer 280
  
• Beijing 17
  
• Beinhocker, Eric 112
  
• Bell, Alexander Graham 38
  
• Bengal famine (1943) 141
  
• benzene 257
  
• Berlin 299
  
• Berlin, Sir Isaiah 288
  
• Bernard of Clairvaux, St 358
  
• Berners-Lee, Sir Tim 38, 273
  
• Berra, Yogi 354
  
• Besant, Annie 208
  
• Bhutan 25–6
  
• Bible 138, 168, 396
  
• bicycles 248–9, 263, 269–70
  
• bin Laden, Osama 110
  
• biofuels 149, 236, 238, 239, 240–43, 246, 300, 339, 343, 344, 346, 393
  
• Bird, Isabella 197–8
  
• birds: effects of pollution on 17, 299; killed by wind turbines 239, 409; nests 51; sexual differences 64; songbirds 55;
  see also individual species
  
• bireme galleys 167
  
• Birmingham 223
  
• birth control
  see
  contraception
  
• birth rates: declining 204–212; and food supply 192, 208–9; and industrialisation 202; measurement of 205, 403; population control policies 202–4, 208; pre-industrial societies 135, 137; and television 234; and wealth 200–201, 204, 205–6, 209, 211, 212;
  see also
  population growth
  
• Black Death 181, 195–6, 197, 380
  
• Black Sea 71, 128, 129, 170, 176, 180
  
• blogging 257
  
• Blombos Cave, South Africa 53, 83
  
• blood circulation, discovery of 258
  
• Blunt, John 29
  
• boat-building 167, 168, 177;
  see also
  canoes; ship-building
  
• Boers 321, 322
  
• Bohemia 222
  
• Bolivia 315, 324
  
• Bolsheviks 324
  
• Borlaug, Norman 142–3, 146
  
• Borneo 339
  
• Bosch, Carl 140, 412
  
• Botswana 15, 316, 320–22, 326
  
• Bottger, Johann Friedrich 184–5
  
• Boudreaux, Don 21, 214
  
• Boulton, Matthew 221, 256, 413–14
  
• bows and arrows 43, 62, 70, 82, 137, 251, 274
  
• Boxgrove hominids 48, 50
  
• Boyer, Stanley 222, 405
  
• Boyle, Robert 256
  
• Bradlaugh, Charles 208
  
• brain size 3–4, 48–9, 51, 55
  
• Bramah, Joseph 221
  
• Branc, Slovakia 136
  
• Brand, Stewart 154, 189, 205
  
• Brando, Marlon 110
  
• brass 223
  
• Brazil 38, 87, 123, 190, 240, 242, 315, 358
  
• bread 38, 124, 140, 158, 224, 286, 392
  
• bridges, suspension 283
  
• Brin, Sergey 221, 405
  
• Britain: affluence 12, 16, 224–5, 236, 296–7; birth rates 195, 200–201, 206, 208, 227; British exceptionalism 200–202, 221–2; climate change policy 330–31; consumer prices 24, 224–5, 227, 228; copyright system 267; enclosure acts 226, 323, 406; energy use 22, 231–2, 232–3, 342–3, 368, 430; ‘glorious revolution’ (1688) 223; income equality 18–19, 218; industrial revolution 201–2, 216–17, 220–32, 255–6, 258–9; life expectancy 15, 17–18; National Food Service 268; National Health Service 111, 261; parliamentary reform 107; per capita income 16, 218, 227, 285, 404–5; productivity 112; property rights 223, 226, 323–4; state benefits 16; tariffs 185–6, 186–7, 223;
  see also
  England; Scotland; Wales
  
• British Empire 161, 322
  
• bronze 164, 168, 177
  
• Brosnan, Sarah 59
  
• Brown, Lester 147–8, 281–2, 300–301
  
• Brown, Louise 306
  
• Bruges 179
  
• Brunel, Sir Marc 221
  
• Buddhism 2, 172, 357
  
• Buddle, John 412
  
• Buffett, Warren 106, 268
  
• Bulgaria 320
  
• Burkina Faso 154
  
• Burma 66, 67, 209, 335
  
• Bush, George W. 161
  
• Butler, Eamonn 105, 249
  
• Byblos 167
  
• Byzantium 176, 177, 179
  

• cabbages 298
  
• ‘Caesarism’ 289
  
• Cairo 323
  
• Calcutta 190, 315
  
• Calico Act (1722) 226
  
• Califano, Joseph 202–3
  
• California: agriculture 150; Chumash people 62, 92–3; development of credit card 251, 254; Mojave Desert 69; Silicon Valley 221–2, 224, 257, 258, 259, 268
  
• Cambodia 14, 315
  
• camels 135, 176–7
  
• camera pills 270–71
  
• Cameroon 57
  
• Campania 174, 175
  
• Canaanites 166, 396
  
• Canada 141, 169, 202, 238, 304, 305
  
• Canal du Midi 251
  
• cancer 14, 18, 293, 297–9, 302, 308, 329
  
• Cannae, battle of 170
  
• canning 186, 258
  
• canoes 66, 67, 79, 82
  
• capitalism 23–4, 101–4, 110, 115, 133, 214, 258–62, 291–2, 311;
  see also
  corporations; markets
  
• ‘Captain Swing’ 283
  
• capuchin monkeys 96–7, 375
  
• Caral, Peru 162–3
  
• carbon dioxide emissions 340–47; absorption of 217; and agriculture 130, 337–8; and biofuels 242; costs of 331; and economic growth 315, 332; and fossil fuels 237, 315; and local sourcing of goods 41–2; taxes 346, 356
  
• Cardwell’s Law 411
  
• Caribbean
  see
  West Indies
  
• Carnegie, Andrew 23
  
• Carney, Thomas 173
  
• carnivorism 51, 60, 62, 68–9, 147, 156, 241, 376
  
• carrots 153, 156
  
• cars: biofuel for 240, 241; costs of 24, 252; efficiency of 252; future production 282, 355; hybrid 245; invention of 189, 270, 271; pollution from 17, 242; sport-utility vehicles 45
  
• The Rational Optimist 424
  
• Carson, Rachel 152, 297–8
  
• Carter, Jimmy 238
  
• Carthage 169, 170, 173
  
• Cartwright, Edmund 221, 263
  
• Castro, Fidel 187
  
• Catalhoyuk 127
  
• catallaxy 56, 355–9
  
• Catholicism 105, 208, 306
  
• cattle 122, 132, 145, 147, 148, 150, 197, 321, 336;
  see also
  beef
  
• Caucasus 237
  
• cave paintings 2, 68, 73, 76–7
  
• Cavendish, Henry 221
  
• cement 283
  
• central heating 16, 37
  
• cereals 124–5, 125–6, 130–31, 143–4, 146–7, 158, 163; global harvests 121
  
• Champlain, Samuel 138–9
  
• charcoal 131, 216, 229, 230, 346
  
• charitable giving 92, 105, 106, 295, 318–19, 356
  
• Charles V: king of Spain 30–31; Holy Roman Emperor 184
  
• Charles, Prince of Wales 291, 332
  
• Chauvet Cave, France 2, 68, 73, 76–7
  
• Chernobyl 283, 308, 345, 421
  
• Chicago World Fair (1893) 346
  
• chickens 122–3, 145–6, 147, 148, 408
  
• chickpeas 125
  
• Childe, Gordon 162
  
• children: child labour 104, 188, 218, 220, 292; child molestation 104; childcare 2, 62–3; childhood diseases 310; mortality rates 14, 15, 16, 208–9, 284
  
• Chile 187
  
• chimpanzees 2, 3, 4, 6, 29, 59–60, 87, 88, 97
  
• China: agriculture 123, 126, 148, 152, 220; birth rate 15, 200–201; coal supplies 229–30; Cultural Revolution 14, 201; diet 241; economic growth and industrialisation 17, 109, 180–81, 187, 201, 219, 220, 281–2, 300, 322, 324–5, 328, 358; economic and technological regression 180, 181–2, 193, 229–30, 255, 321, 357–8; energy use 245; income equality 19; innovations 181, 251; life expectancy 15; Longshan culture 397; Maoism 16, 187, 296, 311; Ming empire 117, 181–4, 260, 311; per capita income 15, 180; prehistoric 68, 123, 126; serfdom 181–2; Shang dynasty 166; Song dynasty 180–81; trade 172, 174–5, 177, 179, 183–4, 187, 225, 228
  
• chlorine 296
  
• cholera 40, 310
  
• Chomsky, Noam 291
  
• Christianity 172, 357, 358, 396;
  see also
  Catholicism; Church of England; monasteries
  
• Christmas 134
  
• Chumash people 62, 92–3
  
• Church of England 194
  
• Churchill, Sir Winston 288
  
• Cicero 173
  
• Cilicia 173
  
• Cisco Systems (corporation) 268
  
• Cistercians 215
  
• civil rights movement 108, 109
  
• Clairvaux Abbey 215
  
• Clark, Colin 146, 227
  
• Clark, Gregory 193, 201, 401, 404
  
• Clarke, Arthur C. 354
  
• climate change 328–47, 426–30; costs of mitigation measures 330–32, 333, 338, 342–4; death rates associated with 335–7; and ecological dynamism 250, 329–30, 335, 339; and economic growth 315, 331–3, 341–3, 347; effects on ecosystems 338–41; and food supply 337–8; and fossil fuels 243, 314, 342, 346, 426; historic 194, 195, 329, 334, 426–7; pessimism about 280, 281, 314–15, 328–9; prehistoric 54, 65, 125, 127, 130, 160, 329, 334, 339, 340, 352; scepticism about 111, 329–30, 426; solutions to 8, 315, 345–7
  
• Clinton, Bill 341
  
• Clippinger, John 99
  
• cloth trade 75, 159, 160, 165, 172, 177, 180, 194, 196, 225, 225–9, 232
  
• clothes: Britain 224, 225, 227; early
  homo sapiens
  71, 73; Inuits 64; metal age 122; Tasmanian natives 78
  
• clothing prices 20, 34, 37, 40, 227, 228
  
• ‘Club of Rome’ 302–3
  
• coal: and economic take-off 201, 202, 213, 214, 216–17; and generation of electricity 233, 237, 239, 240, 304, 344; and industrialisation 229–33, 236, 407; prices 230, 232, 237; supplies 302–3
  
• coal mining 132, 230–31, 237, 239, 257, 343
  
• Coalbrookdale 407
  
• Cobb, Kelly 35
  
• Coca-Cola (corporation) 111, 263
  
• coffee 298–9, 392
  
• Cohen, Mark 135
  
• Cold War 299
  
• collective intelligence 5, 38–9, 46, 56, 83, 350–52, 355–6
  
• Collier, Paul 315, 316–17
  
• colonialism 160, 161, 187, 321–2;
  see also
  imperialism
  
• Colorado 324
  
• Columbus, Christopher 91, 184
  
• combine harvesters 158, 392
  
• combined-cycle turbines 244, 410
  
• commerce
  see
  trade
  
• Commoner, Barry 402
  
• communism 106, 336
  
• Compaq (corporation) 259
  
• computer games 273, 292
  
• computers 2, 3, 5, 211, 252, 260, 261, 263–4, 268, 282; computing power costs 24; information storage capacities 276; silicon chips 245, 263, 267–8; software 99, 257, 272–3, 304, 356; Y2K bug 280, 290, 341;
  see also
  internet
  
• Confucius 2, 181
  
• Congo 14–15, 28, 307, 316
  
• Congreve, Sir William 221
  
• Connelly, Matthew 204
  
• conservation, nature 324, 339;
  see also
  wilderness land, expansion of conservatism 109
  
• Constantinople 175, 177
  
• consumer spending, average 39–40
  
• containerisation 113, 253, 386
  
• continental drift 274
  
• contraception 208, 210; coerced 203–4
  
• Cook, Captain James 91
  
• cooking 4, 29, 38, 50, 51, 52, 55, 60–61, 64, 163, 337
  
• copper 122, 123, 131–2, 160, 162, 164, 165, 168, 213, 223, 302, 303
  
• copyright 264, 266–7, 326
  
• coral reefs 250, 339–40, 429–30
  
• Cordoba 177
  
• corn laws 185–6
  
• Cornwall 132
  
• corporations 110–116, 355; research and development budgets 260, 262, 269
  
• Cosmides, Leda 57
  
• Costa Rica 338
  
• cotton 37, 108, 149, 151–2, 162, 163, 171, 172, 202, 225–9, 230, 407; calico 225–6, 232; spinning and weaving 184, 214, 217, 219–20, 227–8, 232, 256, 258, 263, 283
  
• Coughlin, Father Charles 109
  
• Craigslist (website) 273, 356
  
• Crapper, Thomas 38
  
• Crathis river 171
  
• creationists 358
  
• creative destruction 114, 356
  
• credit cards 251, 254
  
• credit crunch (2008) 8–10, 28–9, 31, 100, 102, 316, 355, 399, 411
  
• Cree Indians 62
  
• Crete 167, 169
  
• Crichton, Michael 254
  
• Crick, Francis 412
  
• crime: cyber-crime 99–100, 357; falling rates 106, 201; false convictions 19–20; homicide 14, 20, 85, 88, 106, 118, 201; illegal drugs 106, 186; pessimism about 288, 293
  
• Crimea 171
  
• crocodiles, deaths by 40
  
• Crompton, Samuel 227
  
• Crookes, Sir William 140, 141
  
• cruelty 104, 106, 138–9, 146
  
• crusades 358
  
• Cuba 187, 299
  
• ‘curse of resources’ 31, 320
  
• cyber-crime 99–100, 357
  
• Cyprus 132, 148, 167, 168
  
• Cyrus the Great 169