[BBB#4] Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond

When asked to summarize his book into a sentence, Jared M. Diamond states: "History followed difference courses for different people because of differences among people's environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves." If one does not understand one's other people's history, one might be misled into believing that it is due to the innate biological differences between people that has led to their different outcomes today. In Guns, Germs and Steel, the author sets out to quell this racist belief by illustrating how environmental factors has contributed to the differences in outcomes of peoples in various countries.

According to the author, the sets of differences in environment that are most important in determining peoples' outcomes are as follows.

First, it is the continental differences in wild plant and animal species available as starting materials for domestication. It is interesting to note that despite the diversity of plants and animals on earth, there are only very few species of plants and animals that can be domesticated. For animals, the author has identified six groups of reasons for failed domestication: diet, growth rate, problems of captive breeding, nasty disposition, tendency to panic and social structure. In the absence of suitable plants and animals to domesticate, it is incredibly difficult for hunter gatherers to adopt sedentary farming. And without sedentary farming, societies are disadvantaged in several ways. For example, food-producing tribes can afford to raise more offspring, and this creates strength in brute numbers compared to hunter gatherer tribes. Food production also permits food surplus storage which can be used to feed non-food-producing specialists. Two types of specialists in particular, kings and bureaucrats, can help to organize societies into chiefdoms which are much more able to mount a sustained war of conquest than an egalitarian band of hunters. Furthermore, food production, or in particular raising animals, exposes food producers to certain types of germs. Over time, food producers can develop a resistance to these germs, whereas these germs played a vital role in wiping out the populations of non-food-producing areas which food producers have launched conquests against.

The second set of factors consists of those affecting rates of diffusion and migration within and between continents. of ideas, technology and domesticable plants and animals species. Interestingly, the author points out the stark differences in the rate of diffusion on the east-west axis compared to the north-south axis. Diffusion is much more rapid along the east-west axis since the climate is relatively similar, and crops brought from one end can very likely be grown on the other. This is opposed to the north-south axis, where plants and animals have much more difficulty adapting to the changes in the climate.

The final set of factors consists of continental differences in area or total population size. With a larger population, there is greater potential for innovation and invention. Speaking of innovation, there are at least four factors that influence acceptance of new technologies. First, it is the economic advantage compared with existing technology. Second, it is social value and prestige. Another factor is compatibility with vested interests. Finally, it is the ease with which the advantages of new technology can be observed.

While not mentioned above, Jared M. Diamond discusses at length some other tangential factors such as religion that have played a role in accentuation these differences in outcomes. Among the countries that the author tries to cover in his five chapters of summarizing the world, part 4, I particularly enjoyed chapter 16 on "How China Became Chinese". Despite the size of China, it is indeed astonishing how much we take for granted this seeming unity of the country. In conclusion, despite its lengthiness, Guns, Germs, and Steel has become one of my favourite books on history.

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