Diverse Fates: What explains them?An overview of Jared Diamond’s theory in Guns, Germs and Steel.

Overview1. The story in history.

2. What is the world like today?

3. Jared Diamond’s Geographic Luck

4. Asking questions.

5. Homework

6. Next day: What would make a civilisation collapse?

1. The story in history.

How do we know what happened:

• Yesterday?• Last week?• Last year?• 15 years ago?• 50 years ago?• 200 years ago?• 1000 years ago?

1. The story in history.

Evidence

(Individual pieces of data)

Theory

(Unifying story)

2. What is the world like today? Approximately how many

people are alive today?

Do they all live in the same way? Are some people more privileged than others?

Who has the most amount of privilege?

Would you agree or disagree with the statement: there are winners and losers in history.

3. Jared Diamond’s Geographic Luck

Destiny

Superior Intelligence

Superior morality (religion)

Superior genes (biology)

Geographic Luck

3. Jared Diamond’s Geographic Luck

Certain places have the right combination of factors that together, led to the conditions that

would make them strong, powerful and resilient.

Latitude and Climate

Shape of continents

Animals and Crops

3. Jared Diamond’s Geographic Luck

3. Jared Diamond’s Geographic Luck

Shape of continents + Latitude and Climate = Animals and Crops

Vs.

3. Jared Diamond’s Geographic Luck

1. Using the 3 ideas of Geographic Luck, which continents would be likely to be “lucky”?

2. Does this fit with our ideas of who are the strong (winning) societies in the world today?

4. Asking questions.

1. Is Jared Diamond right? How do we know?

2. What sounds “right” about his theory?

3. What doesn’t sound “right” about his theory?

4. What kind of criticisms do you think could be made about his theory?

?

5. Homework

Find (seek or recognise) a piece of evidence that would support or challenge the idea of:

1) Some civilisations being “winners” and others being “losers”.

Or

2)”Geographic Luck” playing a role in determining fate.

6. Next day

What would make a civilisation collapse?