Chapter 5-History’s Haves and Have-nots

This chapter is an introduction/leading chapter of chapter 6-10. At the beginning of this chapter, Diamond pointed out that one question to answer in Guns, Germs, and Steel is that why food production did not successfully developed in some areas that seemed to be ecologically suitable for agriculture and herding until modern times. There are many other questions to answer when looking into the question above carefully. For example, in some places of the world, people developed food production independently, but why the time it appeared vary greatly? In some other places, original plants and animals were imported. Why didn’t people there develop their own food production even if the places were actually geographically suitable? Also, for the places that imported plants and animals at first, the dates of importation varied a lot. Why did that happen? In Diamond’s opinion, the answers to these questions partly explained the inequality between peoples with power in food production and those without it. In Diamond’s own words, “All these questions involve developments that determined which peoples became history’s have-nots, and which became its haves.” (Guns, Germs, and Steel, P94)

In the following paragraphs, Diamond provided the methodology to find the answers. He pointed out that the most equivocal way to figure out the origins of food production is to identify the plant and animal remains at archaeological sites. The general way to date food production is radiocarbon dating of carbon containing materials. The principle of this method is explained by Diamond as followed. “This method is based on the slow decay of radioactive carbon 14…Carbon 14 is continually being generated in the atmosphere by cosmic ray…Hence the age of material from an archaeological site can be calculated from the material’s carbon 14/ carbon 12 ratio.” (Guns, Germs, and Steel, P95)

However, this method is not perfect. Diamond mentioned two problems of it. The first one is that the amount of carbon required in radiocarbon dating is much more than that in small seeds or bones. Therefore, scientists often had to refer to charcoal from fires, which are considered associated with the food remains. The other problem is that the carbon 14/carbon 12 ratio is not rigidly constant. Therefore, the result includes inevitable systematic errors.

After knowing the method of dating remains, Diamond introduced the method to decide where the food was actually domesticated. In Diamond’s words, the first way is to “examine a map of the geographic distribution of the crop’s or animal’s wild ancestor, and to reason that domestication must have taken place in the area where the wild ancestor occurs.” (Guns, Germs, and Steel, P97) second way is to “plot on a map the dates of the domesticated form’s first appearance at each locality.” (Guns, Germs, and Steel, P97) Through these methods, people found out that same plants and animals were often domesticated independently in different places.  

Then Diamond began to talk about when, where and how food production developed differently in different parts of the world. He approached the most complex cases from two simple extremes. One is the places where food production was arised absolutely independently. The opposite extreme is the places where food production totally began with imported plants and animals. Diamond provided many detailed evidence, which included the situation of most parts of the globe. 

So far Diamond had provided the methodology and background information needed in figuring out the answers to the questions mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. To close the chapter, Diamond claimed that the details of the answers would be discussed in chapter 6-10.

Works Cited

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999. Print.

Chapter 14 - From Egalitarianism To Kleptocracy

       In this chapter, Jared Diamond talks about society and religion. He discusses different types of societies and explores how they arose in different ways in the world. He begins with introducing a society named Fayu, a society that is far left behind by modern world.  Diamond points out that Fayu bands and modern states represent two extreme opposite form of societies. Concerning about the varieties of human society, Diamond divides societies into four categories: band, tribe, chiefdom and state.

       Bands are the tinies societies that only consist of 5 to 80 people. It is an extended family or several related extended family. One distinctive feature of bands is no permanent single base of residence. They are nomadic since people must move when food in certain range of land runs out. Bands also in an organization described as “egalitarian”. No formalized leadership and monopolies occur in bands. However, band members are not absolutely equal in prestige and contribute equally. The informal leadership is acquired through qualities such as strength, intelligence and fighting skills.

       Beyond the band is the stage termed the tribe. Tribes have larger population comparing to bands and more importantly, tribe members live in settlement. Tribes also consist of more than one formally recognized kinship group, termed clans, which exchange marriage partners. Informal egalitarian system of government is remained in tribes. Information and decision making are communal. Although a “big-man” with the most influence power exists in some tribes, he has no independent decision-making rights and only holds limited power. On the other hand, tribes also share an egalitarian social system, which means that there are no ranked lineages or classes. Wealthy is distributed comparatively proportionately even for the “big man.” Moreover, bands and tribes are lack a bureaucracy, police force and taxes. Their economy is based on reciprocal exchanges between individual or families. No significant economic specialization occurs.  

       As population size is growing, serious potential for internal conflict arises. Societies enter into advanced stage: chiefdom. People begin to exercise a monopoly to utilize force. Unlike big-man in tribes, a chief in chiefdom holds recognized office and owns centralized power. Bureaucracy is also developed. The chief’s order might be transmitted through more than one level of bureaucrats. Good distribution changes to be disproportionate in terms of people’s social ranks. Luxury goods are reserved for chief. People with higher social ranks will have better goods than those called “commoners”. Economic feature of chiefdom changes distinctively. It shifts from reliance on the reciprocal exchanges to a new system termed redistributive economy. The first appearance of taxes occurs in chiefdoms.

       Regarding the ways that chief or elites in chiefdom use to gain popular support while maintaining their elegant lifestyles, Diamond illustrates four different ways:

       1. Disarm the populace, and arm the elite.

       2. Make the masses happy by redistributing much of the tribute received, in popular ways.

       3. Use the monopoly of force to promote happiness, by maintaining public order and curbing violence.

       4. Construct an ideology or religion justifying kleptocracy.

       The chiefdom, by sharing ideology or religions, provides people with a bond not based on kinship and it gives people a motive for sacrificing their lives on behalf of others.

       The last category is states. Whereas the population of chiefdom is around a few thousands, state’ population exceeds one million. Early states had a leader with a title equivalent to king. Central control is more far-reaching and economic redistribution in the form of tribute gets more extensive, comparing to chiefdoms. Economic specialization is more extreme. Administration is also multiplied in states. There are several separate departments in states that handle different kinds of issues. Early states had state religions and standardized temple.  State bureaucrats are selected on the basis of training and ability.

       The theories of how states arise are varied. Aristotle’s consideration that states are the natural condition of human society is denied by Diamond. The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau speculated that states are formed by a social contract. The third theory states that states arise due to large-scale irrigation systems. Diamond agrees that food production makes complex societies, which in this case , states, possible, but does not make complex societies inevitable, based on four reasons:

       1. The problem of conflict between unrelated strangers.

       2. Growing impossibility of communal decision making with increasing population size.

       3. Economic considerations.

       4. Population densities.

       The answer of occurrence of states depends upon evolutionary reasoning. Competition between societies tends to lead to societies on them next level of complexity, therefore finally resulting of the formation of states. External force or actual conquest can also be reasonable reasons. In conclusion, food production, and competition and diffusion between societies leads as ultimate causes of formation of states and increases the complexity of  society.

Reflection:

Chapter 14 is basically talking about the evolution of human society, from the simplest form, band, to the most complex one, state. Diamond’s theories about what factors contribute to the increasing complexity of society make sense and well explained the trend of the evolution.

In my opinion, although state, the most complex stage of society, is seemingly being the most suitable form for the modern world, I do not appreciate some of the ideas that come along with the formation of state. It occurs to me that as the human society is getting larger and being more complex, the difference between classes is also becoming more distinctive. Ultimately, people are under control by a small amount of people. Though the idea of democracy has been introduced to our society, the difference between different social classes is still notable. People in higher class will receive better education, have high quality lives, while lower class people are living in poverty and merely have the chances of education. The generation of distinctive social classes is the by-product of the formation of states. Is the formation of distinctive social classes evil or good? Concerning about this question, I believe that there will be tons of various arguments among people and surely there is no absolute correct answers.

I personally appreciate and admire the value of egalitarianism, which exists in band and tribe. In egalitarianism, there is no control from people to people. No significant social class occurs in the society. People hunt together and share food and properties with each other. They know how to collaborate with fellows to get over the danger of nature. The relationship between people is innocent and pure. However, I have to admit that in modern world with extraordinary large population, such an ideal form of society cannot be formed. We may have some complains about our political or social systems. Just take it and enjoy our lives.

       

Chapter 13 - Necessity’s Mother

            Chapter 13 of Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs and Steel” focuses on attempting to answer the question of how and why each continent evolved technologically at such different rates from each other. Diamond starts this chapter off with the 1908 finding of the Phaistos disk in an ancient palace on the island of Crete. The Phaistos disk is a small circular clay disk dated circa 1700 B.C., that on first glance, does not seem very impressive, however, upon closer examination, one can see “each side to be covered with writing, resting on a curved line of 241 signs or letters neatly divided by etched vertical lines into groups of several signs, possibly constituting words” (239). He goes on to say that this object is of particular importance because not only is it the earliest printed document yet to be found, but also, that it was evidently made using a set of stamps, rather than the hand-carving one would expect of this time period. Diamond points out that the discovery of the Phaistos disk begs the questions of why this printing technology was not widely adopted right away in Crete, why it was invented in 1700 B.C. Crete, and not another ancient civilization, and why it took thousands of years for it to reach the rest of the world. In a broader spectrum, Diamond also questions the rapid expansion of technology in Eurasia compared to that of other continents.

Diamond starts off his discussion with the theory that “necessity is the mother of invention” (243). Even though he does agree that sometimes it is true that inventions do come to be as a product of the unfulfilled needs of a society, he challenges this phrase and states that most times it is actually invention that is the mother of necessity. In other words, what Diamond is discussing in this part of the chapter is that when something that has no initial demand is invented and succeeds in becoming an integral part of that society, eventually, this product does build a demand and soon enough, the invention becomes a necessity. An example Diamond gives that perfectly illustrates this idea is the invention of the motor vehicle. When motor vehicles were first introduced, there was no real need for them, as society at the time was perfectly content with travel by horse and steam-powered railroads. When the military eventually realized that it needed trucks, however, the public followed suit, and within 50 years, every city in America was no longer reliant on horses and wagons, but rather, motor vehicles.

            The next topic Diamond brushes upon is that of the origins of inventions, and how they may not be as “original” as one may be led to believe, as well as what is dubbed the “heroic theory of invention,” or the overemphasize placed on the importance of the individual genius that developed the creation in question. In this section of the chapter, Diamond states that for almost all modern inventions, there was a precursor that was used and improved upon to come up with the final product, and rebuffs the idea that “X invented Y” in these cases. He then goes on to relate this to the main issues of the chapter, questioning whether the world’s history would perhaps be different if one of these inventors had not been born in the right place or time, or had not had competent predecessors or successors, as was the case with the Phaistos disk creator.

Another topic the author discusses is that once a use has been found for an invention, the inventor then has to persuade society into adopting it, stating that having better, more efficient technology does not necessarily mean acceptance of this new product. One example of this is the QWERTY keyboard. Diamond tells us that the purpose of the seemingly randomly and counterproductively placed lettering was actually deliberately done so in order to slow typists down, as early models of typewriters would often jam if their keys were struck too fast. Once manufacturers remedied this issue, a more effective keyboard layout was developed that would significantly both increase typing speed and reduce effort, however, by then typists were far too invested in the QWERTY layout to accept the new proposed one.

After discussing the receptivity of one society, Diamond moves onto explaining the receptivity of the different continents, as well as how readily societies can actually receive technology, and how these factors ultimately played a role in the development of technology. In describing receptivity, Diamond gives the examples of China and the Islamic Middle East. He states during the Middle Ages, the now considered conservative Islamic societies of the Middle East were actually at the forefront of technological advancement, and even surpassed Europe in literacy. Meanwhile, China was even more technologically innovative than the Middle East, producing many inventions, however, eventually ceasing this innovativeness as well. He concludes that “it is untrue that there are continents whose societies have tended to be innovative and contents whose societies have tended to be conservative,” but rather, that any continent can have both conservative societies, as well as innovative ones.

The final topic Diamond discusses is where innovations come from, and the importance of diffusion. He states the inventions come from the observing and handling of nature, illustrated with the example of the behaviors of clay when dried or heated and its spread from Japan to other parts of the world. Diamond propositions that inventions can spread in one of two ways: societies learn of the invention and adopt it, or the society becomes so disadvantaged due to the lack of the invention that they ceased to exist. Diamond states that the diffusion of an invention is critical because since “technology tends to catalyze itself… advances [in technology] depend upon previous mastery of simpler problems.

To conclude the chapter, Diamond discusses how geography, not intellect, are what led to Eurasia’s superior technology. He says that there may have very well been geniuses like Thomas Edison in technologically underdeveloped continents, however, these people directed their inventiveness toward their own problems, which, of course, differed greatly from those of Edison, and thus led to different outcomes. 

Chapter 12 - Blueprints and Borrowed Letters

Jennifer Y.

College Writing R1A

Professor Vahle

In this chapter, Diamond talks about the history of how writing systems were created and how writing was considered 'superior' because knowledge is directly linked to power. Many of those who were considered the higher class, monarchs and merchants were able to travel because they followed maps for sailing directions that were written from others who have traveled. With written evidence, explorers were able to prepare themselves and to expect certain conditions. Countries with writing systems were more superior since they were able to communicate information effectively. 

 There were three basic strategies in the different writing systems: “differ in the size of the speech unit denoted by one written sign: either a single basic sound, a whole syllable, or a whole word.” (Diamond 216). In other words, the strategies were alphabetic, logographic, and syllabic. The alphabetic writing system had sounds to each letter along with symbols to represent it. Most commonly, English uses the alphabetic writing system. The logographic system is displayed as signs to represent the whole word. The Chinese uses the logographic system. Lastly, the syllabic system are syllables which is used by the Japanese.

Alphabetic writing system: English

Logographic writing system: Chinese

Syllabic writing system: Japanese

There were two places that created the writing system: Fertile Crescent and MesoAmerica. There were two others that had possibly developed their own system as well, China and Egypt but there is not any solid evidence to prove it. Diamond explains that the creation of a writing system is difficult so many of the systems were copied or mixed together. Many neighboring countries used a writing system that was already in place to help develop their own language. Writing systems were copied by using blueprint copying, where the whole system is copied but used to create a completely different language. The other form of copying, diffusion is the idea where writing is copied but the writing system is used completely different.

This map shows the countries that developed their own writing system along with other neighboring countries. 

The development of the writing system first started with flat clay tablets and pointed tools were scratched onto the clay. In creating words, “new signs were created by combining old signs to produce new meanings: for example, the sign for head was combined with the sign for bread in order to produce a sign signifying eat.” (Diamond 220). All writing systems did not have a particular strategy, “they had to learn to recognize the same sound or speech unit through all our normal variations in speech volume, pitch, speed, emphasis, phrase grouping, and individual idiosyncrasies of pronunciation. They had to decide that a writing system should ignore all of that variation. They then had to devise ways to represent sounds by symbols.” (Diamond 218). It was very rare that countries created the writing system on their own, many writing systems were ‘borrowed, adapted or inspired by writing systems’ that were already in place. The writing system was spread by “trade and conquest and religion, to other societies with similar economies and political organizations.” (Diamond 237).

In this chapter, Diamond discussed how writing systems were created along with the individual countries that has invented them. It was interesting to learn about how the different forms of writing systems developed within each language. The development of writing systems were inspired by neighboring countries but yet the languages itself are so different. Based on the history of the writing systems, I am wondering which of languages would be easier to learn. I would think that the logographic writing system would be the hardest since each symbol represents a word. Many people say that learning Chinese is extremely hard if it is not their native language because there is a lot of memorization. Compared to English, it is much easier since there is the alphabet system. They are able to learn how to pronounce the english words based on the alphabet. 

 I found it interesting how power is linked to having a writing system. Having a writing system is extremely helpful since people are able to communicate more effectively and pass on information to the next generations. If the writing systems were not created, the society would be not be the same since humans would not be able to pass on information. The creation of the writing system along with technology helped develop the current society to become more efficient. I also found it interesting how neighboring countries developed their own systems by 'copying' other systems that are already in place. By having a writing system, the country would advance greatly. It is extremely interesting how each word has been created and given a meaning. Without these writing systems, the world would have not expanded this rapidly.

Works Cited

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999. Print.

Chapter 11 - Lethal Gift of Livestock

 This chapter considers what a disease is, and why some microbes have evolved so as to make us sick, whereas most other living things don’t make us sick. Later, the author goes on to explain why many familiar diseases run in epidemics, such as AIDS. The chapter will then conclude with insight into how animal origins of our infectious diseases help explain the one-way exchange of germs between Europeans and Native Americans.

 The author begins the chapter with a story of his physician friend who had to examine a small, timid, sick man with pneumonia that was caused by some unidentified microbe.  In seeking to understand how the man became sick, the doctor asked the man’s wife if her husband had any sexual experiences that could have caused the infection. We find out that the man had sex with multiple sheep when he returned to his farm back home The point of this story was to illustrate a very important subject, which was human diseases of animal origins.  Now let’s get into the evolution of all of this.  Basically, microbes evolve like other species.  Evolution selects those individuals most effective at producing babies and at helping them spread to suitable places to live. Microbes have evolved diverse ways of spreading from one person to another, and fro animals to people. The germ that spreads better leave more babies and ends up favored by natural selection. Many of human symptoms of disease actually represent ways in which some microbe modifies our bodies such that we become enlisted to spread microbes.  So, from out POV genital sores and coughing are symptoms of diseases, but from a microbe's POV, they are evolutionary strategies to broadcast the germs, and this is why it is in the germs interest to make us sick.  Now, the author goes on to examine how out bodies try to stay alive and healthy in response to microbe caused infections. This includes, fever, mobilizing our immune system, vaccination, and the slowest response being natural selection, which changes out gene frequencies from generation to generation.  For any diseases, some people tend to be more resistant than others, so if an epidemic were to come, these people would be the survivors. As a result, human populations repeatedly exposed to a particular pathogen have come to consist of a higher proportion of individuals with those genes for resistance. Examples of genetic defenses include protecting northern Europeans against malaria. Because of these evolutionary defenses, microbes have had to come up with tricks to let them spread between potential victims, and many of these tricks are what we experience as symptoms of disease. Later, the chapter goes on to characterize infectious diseases that visit as epidemics rather than cases.  The four characteristics are: first, they spread quickly and efficiently from an infected person to a nearby healthy person, with the result that the whole population gets exposed; second is that if that they're acute illnesses that one either dies from or completely recovers from; then there are the fortunate ones who do recover and develop antibodies that leave us immune against a recurrence of the disease for a long time; finally, these diseases tend to be restricted to humans, meaning that the microbes causing them don’t live in the soil. These four traits apply to what we think of as epidemic diseases, such as smallpox or mumps. After explaining why these diseases run as epidemics, the author goes on to explain why small populations only have certain types of diseases rather than epidemics, while larger populations have  crowd diseases- diseases that need human populations that are sufficient in number and densely packed.  The build up of human population, needed for crowd diseases, began with the rise of agriculture and rise of cities. This leads to the question as why did agriculture launch to the evolution of crowd infectious diseases? The answer: the rise of farming  and cities was a bonanza for microbes because of the build up of numerous people coming together, fecal matter being spread as fertilizer which spread microbes, and forests clearings that provided ideal breeding habitats for malaria- transmitting mosquitoes.  Shortly after, we learn about the four stages of evolution of a specialized human disease from an animal precursor. These include: diseases directly from animals (leptosperis from dogs); diseases that transfer from human to human but die out (Fort Brag Fever) ; diseases that transfer form human to human but have been established for very long (AIDS), and diseases that have been long established which evolve effectively to work in their new hosts (syphilis). To conclude the chapter, the author talks about the role of diseases in conquest. He tells us how diseases played a significant role in conquering the Aztecs and Incans when the Spaniards arrived to the Native Americans’ lands. The author explains that one of the main reasons many Native Americans died was really due to the diseases that the Spaniards brought with them.

Diamond, Jared M. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.

Chapter 10 - Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes

Shikai Yan
College Writing R1A
Professor Peter Vahle

  Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes

- Why did food production spread at different rates on different continents?

In this chapter, Jared Diamond investigates the enormous impact caused by the orientation of different continents on the spread of food production.

The following figure shows the main orientations of three major continents: Eurasia, Africa, and Americas.

It is obvious that Eurasia is east-west oriented, while Africa and Americas are north-south oriented. The different orientation of continents is the major reason why food production spreaded faster in Eurasia than in Americas and Africa.

In prehistorical times, food production only developed in a few origins, one of which is the Fertile Crescent. Around 8000 B.C., food production arose in the Fertile Crescent. Soon, a centrifugal wave of food production spreaded out, to western Eurasia and North Africa. Diamond draws a map, in which he illustrates the influence of the wave using contour lines.

In the map, food production spreaded much more quickly westwards than northwards. Why?

It is because “localities distributed east and west of each other at the same latitude share exactly the same day length and its seasonal variations. To a lesser degree, they also tend to share similar diseases, regimes of temperature and rainfall, and habitats or biomes (types of vegetation).” (Diamond 176). In addition, there is no insuperable obstacle that obstructs the spread of food production. Therefore, the domesticated crops in the Fertile Crescent could be readily planted in western Eurasia.

In contrast to the east-west axis of Eurasia, the north-south axis of Africa greatly impeded the spread of food production. The 2000 miles of tropical climates in central africa blocked the diffusion, because domesticated crops and livestock couldn’t adapt to the characteristical warm temperature, summer rains, and relatively constant day lengths of low latitudes. 

The same case also applies to Americas. “Most crops and animals failed to spread between Mesoamerica and South America.” (Diamond 180) “The cool highlands of Mexico would have provided ideal conditions for raising llamas, guinea pigs, and potatoes, all domesticated in the cool highlands of the South American Andes. Yet the northward spread of those Andean specialties was stopped completely by the hot intervening lowlands of Central America.” (Diamond 180) Conversely, the possible southward spread of domesticated turkeys and sunflowers of North America was also hindered by the between tropical climates.

                                                              Works Cited

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,Inc., 1999. Print.

Chapter 9 - Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, and the Anna Karenina Principle

In “Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, and the Anna Karenina Principle”, Diamond expresses that Eurasian peoples ability to domesticate 13 of the “Ancient fourteen” wild ancestors of today’s domesticated animals led to their gain of guns, germs and steel. Diamond explains how Eurasian peoples success in domesticating animals is not because of a cultural differences. Rather their success is a result of their geography and the Anna Karina Principle. 

Firstly, Eurasia had the most big mammal “candidates” for domestication due to there large landmass and very diverse ecology. Additionally, Eurasia and African loss least amount of candidates in the late Pleistocene wave of extinction. Unlike the Americas and Australia, who lost the most. After these two factors considered, Eurasia had 72 candiates. This is compared to sub-Saharan Africa with 51, the Americas with 24 and Australia with 1.  From here, the actual domestication of these animals is dependent on the Anna Karenina Principle. 

Paraphrased by Diamond the Anna Karenina Principle states the happiness of marriage dependents on the fulfillment of many criteria. If one of those respects is not achieved, the marriage will be unhappy (despite any factors that lead to happiness).  The same applies the domestication of animals.  In order to domesticate a big mammal they must have the proper diet, growth rate, matting habits, a lack of disposition to kill or injure human, a lack of a tendency to panic, and social structure. If any of these are satisfied it will be an unfit marriage for domestication. Thirteen of or the 72 candidates in Eurasia satisfied all of these respects, 1 candidate did elsewhere. 

An explanation of each of these principles is as follows: 

Growth Rate: “To be worth keeping, domesticates must also grow quickly” (163). 

Matting Habits: If an animal will mate in captivity 

Nasty Disposition: A tendency to Kill humans

Tendency to Panic: If an animal has a tendency to panic in confined spaces it will not be fit domestication. 

Social Structure:  Big mammals that travel in herds and have a social hierarchy are ideal for domestication. As humans take over they will follow the human as their leader replacement. They are instantly submissive. Furthermore, herds typically tolerate each other, while solitary territorial species do not. 

Chapter 8 - Apples or Indians

Spriha Shrestha
CollegeWriting R1A
Peter Vahle
Guns, Germs & Steel Outline

In Chapter 8, Jared Diamond explores why some societies were unable to domesticate plants in ecologically feasible areas (i.e.: California) in the past that are successful now; the question he tries to answer is why did agriculture arise at different places at different times? We learn that out of the population of plants, although much larger and varied than that of animals, only a few hundred are eaten by humans and only a dozen (wheat, corn, rice, barley, sorghum, soybean, potato, manioc, sweet potato, sugar cane, sugar beet, and banana) make up for 80% of the food source; and apparently "no new food plants have been discovered in modern time." Thus the assumption that all of them have been explored is presented as one that is valid. Diamond then goes on to explain that there are two possibilities that need to be looked at in order to find a feasible explain: one is the possibility that the problem could be in the plants themselves and the second is that there was a cultural barrier that could have possibly gotten in the way. 

To explore this he focuses on the Mediterranean climate, which is ideal for farming because it is home to annuals (which grow on a yearly cycle), there is a pleasant temperature and more fertile soil, the transition from the wild to domesticating the plants is easy, and there were many “selfers” in these regions that didn’t need other plants to reproduce. The Fertile Crescent is a great example because it was the area where most of the crops we use today were first domesticated- and done quite successfully, for which Diamond presents five reasons: size of the area, climatic variation, carrying altitudes/ topography/ habitats which meant staggered harvest times that weren’t overwhelming, wealth of ancestral plants and less competition to the hunter gatherer lifestyle (shown by the quick transition away from hunting and gathering to domesticating and farming). Mesoamerica didn’t have this advantage because it only had two native domestic animals; turkeys and dogs in comparison to the Eurasian abundance in both animals and plants of this type. Some plants that were domesticated in one place were not domesticated in a nearby place, even if they could be- why? Diamond explains this by explaining that the advantages of growing flax, which is a textile fiber plant, are far less than growing a grain. So when it came to choosing which one to grow, it would only make sense to grow a grain rather than the flax. This just goes to prove that just because you can grow something doesn’t mean you should. So there was a clear advantage in some Mediterranean climates as opposed to others, but as Diamond points out, other factors are at work.

Next, Diamond looks at the human factors that could have contributed. Though there are arguments that things like genetic differences between populations are also crucial, but Diamond argues that they are not as strong as the geographical and climatic factors simply because there is nothing that makes one culture more likely to take up agriculture than another. In fact, throughout history, when people have been introduced to more advanced agricultural techniques they have made attempts to adopt them and have done so successfully to advance their agricultural level. To demonstrate this claim Diamond asks the question which is the namesake of this chapter- Apples or Indians?  He describes the New Guinean disadvantages in farming earlier on due to the lack of ancestral plants and animals that could be domesticated (which cause a lack of protein among other things), then draws a parallel to the Eastern parts of the US, where the same issues arose. Before the introduction of corn, which mesa before the well renowned "three sisters", the Native American society had to sustain itself on crops that were not adequate to allow the society to thrive- which made the impact of the introduction of corn one of the most (if not the most) impactful agricultural change- which came late. 
In the end, Diamond concludes that the reason that the Native Americans did not domesticate apples was not that they did not want to, or that the apples were unable to adapt- apples, as it turns out were a more advanced fruit to farm and were farmed in Eurasia and other parts of the world quite late. Which meant that the Native Americans were not able to domesticate apples based on their significant lateness in terms of agricultural advancement, which was a result of their "modest potential for domestication" (Diamond). 

This chapter has made me wonder how the dynamics of the world could have been different if the fertile crescent had not been populated at the time that is was, or if there was a different arrangement of plate tectonics that displaced these areas that Diamond talks about (Fertile Crescent, Australia, California, etc...) I guess this would go to prove his point even further- the civilizations and farming would be shaped based on geographic advantages and disadvantages. Although this can be tied into the thesis, I think there will be more development in the next chapter to connect it to the thesis as a whole. So far I've been trying to read the rest of the book but I have not gotten very far into it to be able to talk about the relationship between the main thesis and all the subsequent chapters. 

Works Cited

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999. Print.