Guns, Germs, and Steel

PBS will soon be showing a program based on Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. The book tries to answer why some peoples - mostly Europeans and their decendants - live in societies with advanced technology in relative wealth while others are "primitive", i.e. - without the hallmarks of civilization: TVs, cell phones, and MacDonalds. From what I recall, Diamond takes a mostly environmental tact in trying to answer the question. Europeans had a climate conducive to agriculture which was also populated with animals that could be domesticated to serve civilizing processes. In addition, Europeans colonized lands that were roughly of the same latitude as their home continent so they could use their methods and employ their lifestyles in the new lands with little modification.

Shortly after I read Diamond's book, I then delved into David Landes' opus on the same theme, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. Landes deemphasizes environment and instead promotes the notion that Europeans flourished because of their appropriation of technology. I don't recall him ever saying that non-Europeans weren't innovative but rather that Europeans were adept at building upon innovations and integrating them into society and everyday life. For instance, he mentions the great technologies possessed by the Chinese hundreds of years ago but notes how they were often reserved for the ruling class and/or were outlawed. Another fact I recall Landes citing was the European attitude towards women. Not that we white folks have a history of the most egalitarian attitudes towards women but he credits the fact that Europeans allowed women to work outside of the home as one major reason the Industrial Revolution was a, well, revolution. This stands in stark contrast to various countries of the Orient where women working outside of the home was strictly verboten.

Anyway, the show will air here in Madtown on Tuesday night at 9.