Guns, Germs and Steel
By Jared Diamond
In the book Guns, Germs and Steel Jared Diamond who is a biophysics scientist and a psychologist, set out on a journey to find out the reason behind great achievements and conquest of the Europeans. What is the secret of success of Europeans? His hypothesis was very original and at first looked very simple, it was guns, germs and steel. The journey of Diamond took over 30 years and helped him answer the main questions of human history and what is it that separates humans today from "rich and poor" and from "haves and have not’s." To do this he had to go back when everyone was equal.
His quest started off in New Guinea when he was asked by Yali a New Guinean politician a question: "why you white man have so much cargo and us New Guineans have so little?" Cargo in this case was material goods. This question stunned him and made him search for the answer. In the past it was believed that white people had a greater superiority because of their race and that race was the reason why they had more power. Jared Diamond didn’t believe in these explanations from history. In New Guinea, that still today lives as a very poor society and still has some rituals and customs that haven’t changed for over 10 000 years main observation of Diamond was that the food source was very different. While Europeans had wheat and barley that was very nutritious peoples of New Guinea had few of the large trees that were a source of food. For New Guineans gathering of the food was extremely time consuming and took enormous amount of strength to do however it yielded food that lacked nutrition. Another important difference that Diamond was able to observe was the geographical difference they were in. The difference w...
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...n the world.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about the history of human civilization, geography of earth, different climate regions, anthropology students as well as students of biology. I think that this book didn’t have too much biological information dealing with the human body, it was more oriented towards geography and history but it touches important biological issues such as natural selection, bacteria, germs resistance, and diversity. As we know, biology is the study of how organisms came into existence and how it lives in its natural environment. Guns, germs and steel played and still do an important role in organisms and the natural environment that we know of as today. Diamond said that no matter what questions and theories that he may try to answer in the future, it will not be as important as guns, germs, and steel.
Jared Diamond is born in Boston on 1937. He is a physiologist, ecologist, and a prolific writer. Diamond has published hundreds of articles that is about science. Not only that Diamond is a writer, but he also received his Bachelor’s Degree at Harvard University in 1958 and PHD at Cambridge University in 1961. Diamond is currently working at UCLA as a professor of geography and physiology. He has done many research about ecology and the evolutionary of biology in New Guinea and many other southwest Pacific islands. Diamond has done many projects in his career. He is also a field researcher and director of the World Wildlife Fund. No only he published hundreds of articles, but he also wrote many essay in his life. One of his essay that he shared to the public is called, “The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization.” Diamond wrote this essay on June 2003. The essay that Diamond wrote is about the environment and how it is failing miserably.
The prologue of the book clearly lays out Diamond thesis. He explains that past societies have collapsed based on five factors: human induced environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and society’s response to environmental problems. He also explains how is wrote this book in a scientific manner using the “comparative method”, comparing natural situations differing with respect to the variable of interest. There is a slight flaw in this though. Showing these correlations between different societies,...
He mentions that Diamond’s argument was insufficient because he kept on arguing that the reason for the development of societies was due to their geographical location and their ease of domestication. And therefore, his statements lacked the important discussion about the role the culture played in the pace of progress and the development of societies. So let's look at Diamond’s weak points more carefully, as he said that development occurred because of plants and domestication but what is the idea behind that all these animals and plants were just there sitting around and waiting for the humans to come and make use of it? This sounds so ridiculous but that’s what Diamond’s is
...new technology and manipulated into a device of warfare and killing. This is a clear example of how Europe’s success was influenced by geographical luck.
Ideologies unite groups of people and promote the collection of ideas necessary for operation of a properly varnished society. E.K. Hunt and Jared Diamond are two well known authors who discuss the scrupulous importance of ideologies within society. Their books, Property and Prophets and Guns, Germs, and Steel, discuss the success of certain ideologies throughout history, while also integrating the commendable relevance of economics. In determining the correlation of the two novels, one must assess the social, political, and economic factors associated with their viewpoints. Through interpretation of their understandings we can determine the rationale of medieval ideologies as well as, the breakdown of the Christian Paternalistic Ethic as
There are many cumulative events that have influenced Western Civilization reflective in today’s modern world, but the most impactful was the French Revolution. Western Civilization has many historic milestones building to the world as we know it, but none set such broad themes that are felt in our everyday life. Many of these themes have become so ingrained into the way we live that we can’t understand a world without them. For this reason, the effects of the French Revolution molded the westernized world more so than any other event. I consider the French Revolution the catalyst to how our world is shaped today. It’s ideas and events continue to echo through our lives century after century.
The Europeans colonized most of America because they saw the land they had available where they could expand their influence on the world. Also, they were able to establish colonies that sent raw materials home which would make them money. Through the analysis of Jared Diamonds video Guns, Germs, and Steel, this essay will show that the Europeans were able to conquer the Native American’s so easily because of their geography, weapons, and diseases.
The controversial artist Kanye West has always attempted to make known what he thinks, no matter if he has to be disrespectful or graphic in his illustrations of said topic. So it wasn't a real surprise when he chose to focus his energy into reveling to the American public horrors happening that had a direct connection with the beloved diamond stone. West's 2005 music video “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” shows the corrupted underground diamond trade in the African country, Sierra Leone. From this groundbreaking video, West showed the devastated lives those who worked on the mining rivers live. However upon further investigation into the issue of diamond workers in Sierra Leone there emerged the true source of the situation, a violent conflict between the government and rebel leaders. Due to this conflict the entire country was thrown on a downward spiral. This downward spiral eventually resulted in the people longing for the conflict to stop and for the country to come together as one again. The people of Sierra Leone want to forget about the events that transpired during their civil war, however the more we look and attempt to learn from what happened, the better we set ourselves up for the future. West's video only depicts one side of a multifaceted struggle of the diamonds in Sierra Leone, however from this one side the public is encouraged to research more into the conflict themselves and uncover the truth behind the diamonds that we so desperately love.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W.
Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. 4th Edition. Edited by R.H. Campbell and A.S. Skinner. 1776. Reprint, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979.
The Bourgeoisie, a social class most distinct from the rest, remains one of the most influential economic leaders throughout Europe during the Age of Discovery. Exploration and newfound wealth drove this class into being so powerful that their presence threatened the Aristocracy and social strata. Let it be known that the drive behind the bourgeoisie was not centered as much on religion as it was on money and power. The real reasons for discovery as we are told, "Gold, God and Glory," remain somewhat true. In the case of the Bourgeoisie, "Gold and Glory" continued to be their compelling force in discovering new lands.
The Great Divergence is term used to portray the gradual shift of dominance that Europe gained by establishing itself as the most powerful world civilization by the 19th century. While a case could be made that the Great Divergence occurred because of the pre-eminence of Europe and Britain, as well as their supposed superiority in invention and innovation above anywhere else in the world, this argument is flawed. A more compelling argument would be to state that it was rather through the geographical advantages that Europe obtained that lead it into eventually becoming the most powerful civilization after 1500 A.D., as this essay will strive to demonstrate.
According to Darwin and his theory on evolution, organisms are presented with nature’s challenge of environmental change. Those that possess the characteristics of adapting to such challenges are successful in leaving their genes behind and ensuring that their lineage will continue. It is natural selection, where nature can perform tiny to mass sporadic experiments on its organisms, and the results can be interesting from extinction to significant changes within a species. Human beings are no exception to biological evolution. Like other organisms around the world, humans have significantly changed over time and have developed all sorts of diverse characteristics.
The cultural diamond can be best understood and explained through an analysis of its framework and linkages. The diamond consists of four corners: the cultural object, the receiver, the creator and the social world.
There are many natural resources and products that us people take for granted. Resources such as salt, water, sugar, and cotton are items we see and use on a daily basis. Back then, however, the availability and desire of some of these resources determines the success or crumble of certain civilizations. Throughout history, salt and sugar have shaped the development and success of some civilizations, empires, and more. If salt and sugar never existed, life today would definitely be different. Not only because of today’s uses, but because some discoveries made by some ancient civilizations may never have been found as those civilizations wouldn't flourish on those resources and then crumble. The availability and desire of salt and sugar have significantly helped the development of civilizations and cultures but it has also hindered them. Many people in these