Some societies developed faster than others because of maps, not chaps. Without such an alternative account, there is always the risk that some kind of racial superiority-whether the soft variety (our ideas are better than yours) or the hard variety (our stock is better than yours)-will sneak in through the back door.ĭiamond’s answer, in a word, is geography. But that is not the same as understanding why those explanations are wrong, and/or which explanations should replace them. That way lies colonialism, paternalism, racism, eugenics, and all their works. But this just pushes the question back one step: Why did the Spanish, rather than the Incans, end up with guns, germs and steel? Are Spanish people genetically superior? Is Spanish thought more amenable to innovation and technological advancement? Are Spaniards more intelligent by nature? More creative? Luckier? Or what?Įveryone reading this will sense that any explanations based on genes, biology, superiority, intelligence or other innate qualities are morally unacceptable. Francisco Pizarro defeated Atahualpa because he had guns, germs and steel, and the Incans didn’t. A commonly cited answer is found in the title of Jared Diamond’s development classic, Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years.
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