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Summary Of Gun's Germs And Steel By Jared Diamond

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In PBS’s episode one entitled Out of Eden of the series Gun’s Germs, and Steel, Professor Jared Diamond attempts to answer the question of “why you white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little.” (Cassian Harrison, 2005) Professor Diamond’s begins his research by exploring history from 13,000 years ago, pre-dating civilizations, during a time period equivalent to New Guinea’s present day. Professor Diamond delves into the origins of traditional societies and tracks their evolution into modern times, searching for an explanation for why some societies have expanded and modernized while others remain frozen in an earlier time. Professor Diamond theorizes that the reason behind the inequality between the people of New Guinea as compared to “white men” societies is due to geography and what the land has produced. (Cassian Harrison, 2005) He argues that the difference in crops and protein sources have historically impacted the evolution of a civilization. Modernized counties were able to transition from traditional hunter gathering to farming by …show more content…

Geography clearly plays a distinct role in societal advancement. Developed nations tend to possess an array of desirable natural resources helping them to move away from a society dependent on hunting and gathering. However, regardless of geographical advantages, culture, ideology, and societal differences have impeded upon the modernization/westernization of some nations. Professor Diamond answers Yali’s question, but in an ethnocentric viewpoint disregarding whether or not a society would want to evolve beyond a traditional society as well as the human and cultural impact on different nations. Some nations have not modernized due to decisions influenced by culture and ideology. Diamond’s reasoning explains why it would be difficult for some societies to modernized but does not fully explain all the reasoning behind why they have

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