Sherif Gaballa

Late summer work

In Jared Diamonds Guns Germs and Steel, Jared talks about his companion Yali from
New Guinean. At the time, New Guinean was fighting to gain their independence two centuries
before aid came from the Europeans. The Europeans brought the New Guineans metal tools and
cargo, evolving the tools that they were using, stone tools. Europeans believed that they were
superior to the New Guineans because of the vast advancement they were exposed to. They even
called the New Guineans primates. While Jared and Yali are conversing among each other, Yali
proposes a complex question. Even though Yali didnt have a high school diploma, he was able
to come up with a question that scientist, to this day, cannot answer. Yali asks Jared, "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?" (Diamond, pg. 3) At first, Jared didnt know how to answer
Yali, but after years of thinking, he finally found some answers and in this essay I will be telling
you some of those answers.
When Jared studied and searched for the answer to the question, he found that he must
look at a broader view. Instead of just focusing on the racial aspect, he thought about the
population as a whole. He wondered why all over the world there were countries that were just
more advanced than others. His first attempt at an answer was because of different technology
all over the world. He said that in year of 1500 A.D most of Europe, Asia, and North Africa were
the site of metal-equipped states, comparing to Native American groups who was only using
stone tool. He stated that because of the different groups, population and tools that the ones with

more would easily dominate other groups taking their knowledge of technology and medicine
making those groups superior then others. Some countries, because of their superiority, became
wealthier while others were poor alluding Europe and New Guinea
Another theory that Jared had was that genetics had a big factor on how advanced a
certain country was. In countries, like Europe, plaque was rapid during history (Black plague).
The plaques caused anybody without the genetics and antibodies to die. Weeding out the weak,
the only genetics that were passed on in Europe were different from genes passed on in other
countries. Factors, like the plaque, also changed the genetics in other countries. These changes
either enhanced or delayed some countries, explaining Europe and New Guinea. This can explain
why some countries are more advanced than others and even pursue an idea of conquering other
countries.
Climate is another theory that Jared had to answer Yalis question. In his book he talks
about how Europe has a cold climate, that it made sense that it was logical that were more
advanced because they had to adapt to stay alive during the harsh days and nights of the cold
climate. New Guinean were exposed to warmer climates, this initiated an evolutionary process
to the skin called melatonin but they didnt have to think much to survive because there wasnt
much that they needed done to survive, well not as much as the Europeans. That could have
caused the Europeans to think more about technology than the other countries. that could have
made them superior and want to conquer other land.
Jared Diamond had many different theories to answer Yalis question, but I believe the
one that makes the most sense is climate. Since people had to think in a different way compared
to what they are used to, breaded people with the capacity to have innovative ideas. I feel that

this is the one that makes the most sense caused people to think and invent because they had to.
They had to take their minds to create shelters, to make more of less, to take the animals and
create cloths, to gather grain for the winter so they can survive. To be able to constantly adapt is
to be able to constantly survive and this is what caused the evolutionary difference between
Europe and New Guinean.