A) Diamond's major themes and key points
- Eurasia had the largest landmass and thus the most resources
- The east/west orientation of Eurasia allowed for knowledge and resources to be transported more efficiently
- The north/south orientation of both the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa acted as a barrier to effective movement of knowledge and resources
- Australia's small size and lack of domesticable organisms prevented the people from becoming more technologically advanced
- There aren't great enough biological difference between the people of different regions to explain why some were more technologically advanced than others
- Eurasia had a much larger number of domesticable organisms
B) What does he identify as the most important determinants of a society's success?
- The most important factor is the environment the society is placed into. The Eurasian peoples were placed in an environment that gave them the greatest ability to advance due to the overall geography and the prevalence of domesticable organisms.
C) How can these ideas be applied to today's global economy?
- This can be used to prove that no one society was biologically superior to another. There is no discernible difference between the intelligence levels of varying societies that can explain why some advanced more quickly. It was luck that some ended up in areas better suited to support human populations. This knowledge can be used in fair business practices because it provides support that no group of people should be subjugated to suit the wants of another group.
