Guns, Germs, and Steel 7

Chapter 13, "Necessity's Mother", contradicts the old saying, "Necessity is the mother of all technology". Diamond says that experimentation is the mother of all technology. Those peoples with free time and energy could devote themselves to the tinkering of materials. Eventually, they would come upon a gadget that was interesting but redundant. However, over a period of time, people would eventually find a use for this seemingly useless invention that made daily life easier. But another key point is the difference in the spread of technology between peoples. Europeans were on the forefront of technological advancement for such a long time because of several reasons. First, Europeans were early to adopt farming and therefore food surpluses. This resulted in its peoples being able to devote more time into inventions. Second, Europe, unlike Africa or the Americas, was easy to traverse and therefore technology spread more easily since there were not natural barriers to prevent it. And lastly, Europe's population was denser than most other areas of its time. This meant it had more inventors and more people power. In the end, Europe's lucky mixture of fundamental qualities allowed it to surpass all other nations in terms of technology.