Guns, Germs, and Steel

“‘Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?’

It was a simple question that went to the heart of life as Yali experienced it. Yes, there still is a huge difference between the lifestyle of the average New Guinean and that of the average European or American. Comparable differences separate the lifestyles of other peoples of the world as well. Those huge disparities must have potent causes that one might think would be obvious.

Yet Yali’s apparently simple question is a difficult one to answer” 

Diamond begins hid book with the question above, which was posed to him by a New Guinean friend named Yali. Yali was conscious of a disparity whereby white people brought a large amount of cargo with them to New Guinea whereas New Guineans had little cargo of their own. This in itself is readily observable, but the reasons behind it are not so easy to explain. Yali’s question therefore prompted Diamond to examine the substantial lifestyle differences and inequalities—not only between New Guineans and Europeans/Americans but between other peoples throughout history. His overall aim is to uncover why history has panned out in certain ways rather than others; in particular, why human populations can be divided into the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

“Understanding is more often used to try to alter an outcome than to repeat or perpetuate it. That’s why psychologists try to understand the minds of murderers and rapists, why social historians try to understand genocide, and why physicians try to understand the causes of human disease. Those investigators do not seek to justify murder, rape, genocide, and illness. Instead, they seek to use their understanding of a chain of causes to interrupt the chain” 

Here, Diamond refutes the notion that describing a scenario is liable to perpetuate it. His aim in this book is to describe and explain forms of social inequality; not to endorse or maintain them. Employing some useful analogies, Diamond clarifies that physicians try to understand the causes of disease. Likewise, where people commit heinous acts, psychologists and social historians try to understand why such acts occurred. Few people would argue that these professionals are endorsing or perpetuating disease or brutal crimes.