Juliana
Juliana Moran Larios
Period 3
AP World History
Yali’s question
In the prologue of Guns, Germs and steel by Jared Diamond, Diamond seeks to explain why there were different rates of human development on different continents. The author explains and expresses this statement by many different angles, such as evolution, intelligence, climate, location and advanced technology. Why did history take such different evolutionary courses for people of different continents? In other words, what steps did different continents take to become who they were and how were they able to take those steps? How did different continents develop faster than others? Could it depend on intelligence? Then again, it was stated that “New Guineas are on the average at least as smart as a European” (p.g 14). Also, for many years psychologists have looked and studied for differences in IQ between different people around the world. Unfortunately, “IQ tests tend to measure cultural learning and not pure innate intelligence.” (p.g 20), Therefore, should we really base history on intelligence? Or could the answer to Yali’s question be answered based on climate and location? It has been said that “people from northern Europe contributed nothing of fundamental importance to Eurasian civilization until the last thousands years; they simply had the good luck to live at a geographic location where they were likely to receive advances (such as agriculture, wheels, writing and metallurgy) developed in warmer parts of Eurasia.”(p.g 22) Advances? Agriculture? Wheels? Writing and metallurgy? All these advantages were given by location and climate. The “white” people obviously were higher up on the evolutionary scale. Despite, their intelligence; they still had the materials and the location to work with. While New Guineas had it more complex and struggled a lot more because of their location and climate.
Therefore, “Why did human development proceed at such different rates on different continents?”
Period 3
AP World History
Yali’s question
In the prologue of Guns, Germs and steel by Jared Diamond, Diamond seeks to explain why there were different rates of human development on different continents. The author explains and expresses this statement by many different angles, such as evolution, intelligence, climate, location and advanced technology. Why did history take such different evolutionary courses for people of different continents? In other words, what steps did different continents take to become who they were and how were they able to take those steps? How did different continents develop faster than others? Could it depend on intelligence? Then again, it was stated that “New Guineas are on the average at least as smart as a European” (p.g 14). Also, for many years psychologists have looked and studied for differences in IQ between different people around the world. Unfortunately, “IQ tests tend to measure cultural learning and not pure innate intelligence.” (p.g 20), Therefore, should we really base history on intelligence? Or could the answer to Yali’s question be answered based on climate and location? It has been said that “people from northern Europe contributed nothing of fundamental importance to Eurasian civilization until the last thousands years; they simply had the good luck to live at a geographic location where they were likely to receive advances (such as agriculture, wheels, writing and metallurgy) developed in warmer parts of Eurasia.”(p.g 22) Advances? Agriculture? Wheels? Writing and metallurgy? All these advantages were given by location and climate. The “white” people obviously were higher up on the evolutionary scale. Despite, their intelligence; they still had the materials and the location to work with. While New Guineas had it more complex and struggled a lot more because of their location and climate.
Therefore, “Why did human development proceed at such different rates on different continents?”