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Guns Germs And Steel Discussion Questions

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Guns, Germs, & Steel questions 1. Yali’s question is “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” In this statement, Yali is questioning why different races and civilizations developed differently. He is curious to see if one races intelligence is superior to the others, and if perhaps that explains why technology was introduced to europeans faster than others. (14) 2. Three main objections to answering Yali’s question are its justification to domination, the eurocentric approach to history, and conveys the idea that civilization is crucial for human happiness. (18) 3. Eurocentric means focused on european life. 4. Diamond’s theory that New Guineans are more innately intelligent than Europeans stems from the idea that they are more in tune with their surroundings. They have a natural alertness and interest that many europeans lack. These people also did not live in densely populated areas, which disease could easily become rampant, opposed to Europeans who did. Europeans in turn were developing genes that protected their bodies versus genes that enhanced the mind. Also, in the past 100 years or so, Western society has been using passive entertainment to please the mind. Diamond believes this could correlate to intelligent rate. He believes this because many westerners end up not conversing with other people and don’t understand human nature as well as a New Guinean, who does not have passive entertainment, might. (20) …show more content…

An example of passive entertainment is watching TV. Americans have a better opportunity to experience passive entertainment because we are surrounded by it constantly. We have easy access to it, therefore we use it much more

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In the book, Guns Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond attempts to answer questions of conquest, such as why Eurasia conquered the Americas, and not the other way around. Diamond is a biologist by trade, and both impressed and disappointed the academic world with his new historian side. He believes the answer to western dominance lies in geography and the spread of guns, germs and steel. His theories had led him to be heavily critiqued by historians everywhere, including environmental historian J.R McNeil and Professor of Anthropology and Geography James Blaut. While Diamond provides solid ideas relating to the conquest of the New World, he often uses his scientistic background loosely with unclear supports forgetting other historical factors that

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Chapter three of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond is a story about how Francisco Pizarro, the Conquistador, brought the end to the Inca civilization with only two hundred men. Diamond uses real accounts from six of the 200 men to tell what happened. The story goes like: Francisco Pizarro by order of the King to travel across New World and conquer the lands and riches for his nation. They had gathered information about an Incan Empire and soon sent their sights on capturing the Incans. The Spanish Conquistadores tried to the Incan leader, Atahuallpa, to convert to Christianity but it failed so Pizarro then captured Atahullpa.

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In addition, Document C is a chart that presents inventions and discoveries that aided European colonizers in taking over Africa. The purpose of this document was to display European advancement and the utilities which were brought about by the acquisition of raw materials, which allowed them to travel further into Africa, take control, and continue the process of harvesting their raw materials. This evidences how the search for raw materials led to the creation of the inventions listed on the chart and how their purpose was to bring the European nations who used them power on the grounds of geopolitics. Although some of these inventions don’t seem much now, the steam engine, electric telegraph, and other such creations were made in certain places of European places and will forever being remembered as a certain nation’s product, which is similar to Germany and Japan with Toyota and Volkswagen brand cars, respectively, that are still currently being made

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While claiming to bring civilization to the untamed wilds , conflict in the Americas didn’t end as the Europeans created their empires. With new and growing territories, came new and growing tensions between neighboring powers, and these tensions often ignited into international conflicts. In these conflicts the

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1240 Words | 5 Pages

Jared Diamond in his book titled Guns, Germs, and Steel tells about certain places in the world having more geographic luck than others and thus causing them to prosper. During the Civil War the North and the South were warring over state rights and slavery issues. While the industrial revolution fueled the creation of new inventions such as the steam engine, the south refused capitalize upon these new creations. When the North grew and continued to grow in its industrial strength, they began to make themselves a world power, causing the South to continue to mostly produce cotton and several other agricultural crops. The South didn’t provide many new technologies which limited there economic effect on trade and production.

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He claims, “Cyberspace is what we make it. It is ours,” (388). Deibert discusses how we used the radio and television as a form of passive entertainment. This means that we, the consumers, sit and react to the entertainment provided and there is no way that we can change it. We let entertainment do what it’s supposed to do: relax and bring us joy.

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Most historians consider many factors to piece together our planet’s past. When looking at the exploration of what was named “the New World,” they often point to the success of the conquistador’s missions and attribute it to their determination, skill, and weaponry. The film “Guns, Germs, and Steel” names the real reasons why the conquistadors were so successful on their missions. The empires of Central and South America did not have access to certain animals and had not advanced as far as the Europeans did in terms of weaponry. Additionally, they had never been exposed to the diseases that many animals carry.

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In the late 1800s, Europe was scrambling to conquer vast amounts of land. Imperialism had swept the continent by storm, with many countries vying for pieces of Africa and Asia to control. From 1880 to 1900, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy fought for African possessions and by 1900, nearly the whole continent had been split and placed under European rule. There was plenty of motivation for Europeans to conquer the world, and while some supported it, others didn’t. Most people in Europe at this time held ethnocentric views toward the “uncivilized” cultures in the world.

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The Europeans had the advancement of guns, horses, and navigation. The mastery of gunpowder technology was crucial for the European conquests. Gunpowder weapons allowed small numbers of Europeans to conqueror and win wars in far away lands. With guns, European conquerors were able to kill their enemies and be within

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In modern society, guns are seen as a form of control. Those who have guns are able to overpower those who do not. This trend was set when guns were first invented and has stayed the same throughout history. The one place where guns are not a symbol of power and control is in literature, specifically “The Old Gun” and Hamilton. In Mo Yan’s short story “The Old Gun”, the protagonist is a hungry boy who does not even know how to use the titular firearm.

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Entertainment is seen everywhere whether it 's reading a book or seeing a movie with friends. Entertainment can shape a society and many individuals include time for entertainment on a daily basis. Many people love entertainment and find it as mode of relaxation. The truth is that entertainment has the capacity to “ruin” society. The concept of entertainment in society has been growing and has the capacity to ruin the state of society while negatively influencing individuals.

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The differences in customs, religion, and basic moral and human ideology prevented the Native American and European cultures from sharing the common bond of human fellowship to serve as the basis and foundation for the growth and betterment of human civilization. Unfortunately, this is a trait seen by the human species that have led to the collective downfall of civilizations throughout time, and will repeat itself until the human perspective of its remarkably fortunate place in the universe is dramatically

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This assumption was based on the fact that “more civilized” meant more technologically advanced. Social Darwinism offered an explanation for the unequal technological development across the world. This gave rise to belief that there was a “hierarchy” of races and that the Europeans were at the top of the hierarchy. Imperialists used genetics as a justified explanation to why white people were more superior to other races. Darwin believed that animal species was adapting and changing to environments in the process of evolution.

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Moreover, Western civilization became the ideal civilization, and became way superior to African “civilization.” As a consequence, African tradition became perceived as primitive, outmoded, and sadly not welcomed by the rest of the world. Unfortunately, a lot of Africans experienced a trend of a dying out culture. (2) It can be implied that even the Africans’ self-perception dropped because the only lifestyle they knew was suddenly taken away from them and they were taught that it was substandard. Therefore, the indigenous inhabitants of the colonies, the Africans, had to adapt to a new, “superlative” culture and view it as more sophisticated than theirs.

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Chapter 4: Firearm Maintenance You should clean your gun regularly if you want to make sure that it will work safely and correctly every time you use it. Guns that are poorly maintained may malfunction, which can mean certain death in some situations. It may explode in your hands or misfire, things that you never want to happen (especially during a gunfight). If you will take care of your firearm properly, you will be able to maintain its excellent condition and prolong its life.

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