Why over the past 11,000 years has the human development of different nations and societies proceeded at such different rates? What about the future? Complex topic simplified, let’s explore.

Jared Diamond chronicled 11,000 years of human history in his Pulitzer-winning book “Guns, Germs and Steel”.

The simplest and shortest answer is “Location, Location, Location”

Food and Farming

Until 11,000 years ago, all people everywhere on Earth were hunter/gatherers with little or no storable food surpluses.

Farming and food production appeared in the Fertile Crescent (modern-day Middle East) and rapidly spread along the east-west axis connected land mass (Europe and Asia). These Fertile Crescent had the greatest variety of wild plants and animals suitable for domestication.

The development along the North-South axis (Africa and America) lagged considerably.

Why?

That’s because crop and livestock species can spread more rapidly at the same latitude, where they always encounter constant day length and seasonality and similar diseases, than across bands of latitude, where they must adapt to different day lengths and seasonality and diseases.

Technology

Technology is a by-product of leisure time. Surplus food increased population density and specialization emerged.

Agricultural society could feed nonfood producers like Kings, Priests, soldiers, builders, thinkers, and merchants. Whilst hunter/gatherer neighbours were still focused on daily food intake to keep them alive for another day.

Writing arose independently in the regions where agriculture first emerged. Writing is by far the greatest technological invention by humans, it transmits knowledge longitudinally across time into the future.

More humans, accumulated knowledge, surplus food, and a lot of thinking time led to exponential technology development.

Germs:

Intense food production introduced another unintended consequence by way of infectious diseases. Smallpox, influenza, malaria, measles, and tuberculosis, all evolved from domesticated animals. The east-west axis humans developed immunity over the years.

When humans from the East-West axis arrived at the North-South axis, they unwittingly carried with them a myriad of biological weapons that killed the natives who did not have immunity.

Europeans and Asians dominated the world for 11,000 years until the United States emerged in the past 100 years.

What are the lessons?

Surplus Food, population density, Immunity, health care, and education are key ingredients for innovation and human development.

What about the future?
Developed nations are facing a declining population. Ironically, development may be leading us to extinction.

I highly recommend reading Guns, Germs and Steel.

You can read all my “Notes to Self” at view all blogs.