Today in class we finished watching Germs Guns and Steel. However, the first 20 minutes of class was taken up by Mr. Schick trying to fix the volume on the speaker/computer so we ended up having to use Evan's computer in order to finish watching it. The major points in the the rest of the video were:
-Making plaster from limestone, was a major technological advancement. (in Jordon, used plaster to insulate the wall to keep the wind etc... out.
-In Papa New Guinea they didn't have metal tools, because they didn't have a food surplus, which means they couldn't have specialists, which means no metal working, and therefore no metal tools.
-The Fertile Crescent's head start in farming could not continue because the climate was to dry and the ecology was deteriorating.
-America consumes 20 million tons of wheat a year- however wheat is not native to America, it is originally from the Fertile Crescent.
The conclusion that James Diamond came up with for answer the question, "Why white men have so much cargo and New Guineans have so little," was simply the geography. The New Guineans got the short end of the stick, and if American's had settled in New Guinea we would be in a similar situation.
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