Response to Jared Diamond Article

Jared Diamond explains many points on how the world become what it has today in his talk. He talks about how history should be viewed as a science, and how it can be used to explain things we see today through trends in history. He specifically notes how today's world can be viewed as racist, in that there are certain groups of people that clearly have more power than others and that they view others as less human. He says how this can be traced to things in history like the fall of the New World to the Old World and even further back to the ice age. Diamond states how the Eurasian domination over the new world can be explained through a few things such as domesticated animals and climate. This lends to Diamond explaining that difference in current human societies is due more to environment that biological differences. He states that some of the most important determinants to a society's success the ability and suitability to domesticate animals, a high rate of increasing agriculture and herding, and a dense population and food surplus. These things allow a society to grow and develop new technologies and innovations that make the society more complex. This can be applied today in that the countries in today's world that have the most power tend to have densely populated areas and cities. They are also able to come up with an abundance of agriculture and herding in order to feed and grow such a population. This allows these countries to also possibly sell surplus food on the global economy. The growth then also allows for new innovations and technologies that can further put ahead those countries. In conclusion it can be seen today some of the trends that have occurred in history and it is vital to understanding that history in order to gain insight on what is occurring in the world today.