Guns, Germs, and Steel

Today was the first day back to school after winter break. We got back our exam grades (I got a 98), and began discussing what we'll be doing in class for the next two weeks before the third quarter/ second semester. We're going to be watching Guns, Germs, and Steel, a piece explaining that Eurasian predominance is not due to a genetic superiority, but rather geological factors that benefit the people evolving in these environments.
This is a book written by Jared Diamond, adapted into a documentary later on. We'll be watching this documentary.
We're going to watch this documentary in pieces over multiple classes.
Essentially, the place on earth that a civilization develops influences how that civilization evolves and develops. This connects to the naturally occurring minerals in a place, the domestication of plants, and the domestication of animals.
As we started the video, we learned about Jared Diamond's expertise in the bird population of Papua New Guinea, and how his passion for studying birds led him to question why certain parts of the world developed faster than others.
This connects to white European colonists in Papua New Guinea teaching natives that power was determined by race, strongly believing that whites were genetically superior to other races because of European conquest worldwide.
Diamond stated that he knew race couldn't connect to the advancement of certain societies, specifically because he knew too many New Guinea natives that were far smarter than him, specifically when it came to living in their environment.

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