Was that an earthquake or an atomic blast??!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'atomic, blast, simulation' to 'atomic, blast, simulation, explosion, detonation, tnt, explosives, bang' - edited by kulpims

I think scottishmartialarts does have a point. Politics and just sheer chance of luck in history plays a big part of outcomes of civilization.

USA could've bombed China with atomic blast during Korean war, but Truman thought Macarthur was bit nuts for thinking that. Now they're on the biggest economic rebound modern history has ever seen, armed with the latest western technology.

Same thing with Rome vs Egypt back in the days of Octavian vs Marcus Antonius. Rome produced less food than Egypt at that time, heavily relying on Sicily to feed the gigantic city of Rome. Rome and Alexandria were at the same level both technologically and population wise. But Octavian wins, and Latins dominate the Mediterranean sea.

Perhaps ultimately because they had a better and more effective military tradition (culture factor) than Alexandrians of Egypt or even the Carthaginians long ago, who also produced more food than Romans, enough so that they were able to make rich and buy mercenaries from other areas to fight their battles for them.

But what Diamond speaks of is about the beginning of civilization and why we have ended up with such drastically different lifestyles. I do think he has a point there.

And I especially agree with this three points:

1. A community requires easy means to produce high energy yielding food to sustain large population.

2. High population & density is always a must to achieve technological innovation and germ immunity.

3. Society with high germ immunity and technological advancement gets to dominate other cultures.

BUT

All 1st, 2nd and 3rd points can be overcome with: constant Trading and Politics between communities.