A THREAD on key ideas from the book "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond:
1/
History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.
1/
History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.
2/
All human societies contain inventive people.
It’s just that some environments provide more starting materials, and more favorable conditions for utilizing inventions, than do other environments.
All human societies contain inventive people.
It’s just that some environments provide more starting materials, and more favorable conditions for utilizing inventions, than do other environments.
3/
My two main conclusions are that technology develops cumulatively, rather than in isolated heroic acts, and that it finds most of its uses after it has been invented, rather than being invented to meet a foreseen need.
My two main conclusions are that technology develops cumulatively, rather than in isolated heroic acts, and that it finds most of its uses after it has been invented, rather than being invented to meet a foreseen need.
4/
The history of interactions among disparate peoples is what shaped the modern world through conquest, epidemics & genocide.
Those collisions created reverberations that have still not died down after many centuries.
The history of interactions among disparate peoples is what shaped the modern world through conquest, epidemics & genocide.
Those collisions created reverberations that have still not died down after many centuries.
5/
With the rise of chiefdoms around 7,500 years ago, people had to learn, for the first time in history, how to encounter strangers regularly without attempting to kill them.
With the rise of chiefdoms around 7,500 years ago, people had to learn, for the first time in history, how to encounter strangers regularly without attempting to kill them.
6/
Not until the beginning of the 20th century did Europe's urban populations finally become self-sustaining: before then, constant immigration of healthy peasants from the countryside was necessary to make up for the constant deaths of city dwellers from crowd diseases.
Not until the beginning of the 20th century did Europe's urban populations finally become self-sustaining: before then, constant immigration of healthy peasants from the countryside was necessary to make up for the constant deaths of city dwellers from crowd diseases.
7/
Tolstoy meant that, in order to be happy, a marriage must succeed in many different respects: sexual attraction, agreement about money, child discipline, religion, in-laws, and other vital issues.
Tolstoy meant that, in order to be happy, a marriage must succeed in many different respects: sexual attraction, agreement about money, child discipline, religion, in-laws, and other vital issues.
8/
Yes, world history is indeed such an onion!
But that peeling back of the onion’s layers is fascinating, challenging—and of overwhelming importance to us today, as we seek to grasp our past’s lessons for our future.
Yes, world history is indeed such an onion!
But that peeling back of the onion’s layers is fascinating, challenging—and of overwhelming importance to us today, as we seek to grasp our past’s lessons for our future.
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