In Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond, the author shares his hypothesis on why some regions of the world are not as technologically advanced as others. Diamond argues that the developmental shortcomings of one society relative to another are the result of unbeneficial environmental factors inflicted on the less advanced of the two. Furthermore, in a review of this article, William H. McNeill takes it upon himself to criticize the flaws and acknowledge the truths revealed by Diamond's simplistic view of the matter. However, in this review of Diamond's work, McNeill both adds and subtracts from the mentioned hypothesis, and creates additions that work against the singular motive, that environmental factors are not the sole origin of these developmental inequalities and, in doing so, creates a more dimensional answer to the question Diamond is trying to answer, while creating a weaker answer from Diamond alone. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. Diamond presents his book in the form of an answer to a question. A question he was asked in 1972 by a New Guinean named Yali was: "Why did you white people develop so many goods and bring them to New Guinea, while we blacks , had few goods of our own. ?' (Diamond, 14). “White people's cargo” refers to the many material objects we possessed that were more advanced than theirs, such as steel tools, machines, etc., while their own “cargo,” or tools, were still made of stone. Diamond wholeheartedly believed that New Guineans and others in their situation were more intelligent than Eurasians because the genes linked to New Guineans' intelligence were refined by natural selection to survive murder and environmental hazards, while Eurasians only faced threats like disease, which only caused natural selection to act on immune-related genes that helped repel bacteria. With this belief, Diamond believes that the best explanation for the difference in progress comes from a society's environment. The Eurasians only prospered as they did because these populations had the advantage of being able to domesticate beneficial plants and animals from their particular environment, which allowed agriculture to take root. Diamond points out that "by allowing farmers to generate surplus food, food production enabled agricultural societies to support full-time artisans who were not growing their food and who were developing technologies" and that, therefore, societies and their technological advances were closely linked. to their means of food production (Diamond, 30). Without the progress of food production methods to meet the needs of the population, individuals would have no possibilities outside the agricultural field, and therefore the progress of tools, centralized political organization, writing and Other elements important to advanced societies would not have had the chance to develop. form. It is within this framework of thought that Diamond developed his argument and concedes that culture may have a small role in societal development, but only just, and that the most important primary factor in differential development rates is that of the environment in which the population resides. in. McNeill wrote a review of Guns, Germs and Steel to argue that Diamond's article, although.