A few weeks ago I had an amazing book recommended to me.  It’s called “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” by Jared Diamond.  In the book Diamond discusses the various interconnected reasons for the variation of advancement in terms of agriculture, political structure and tools in societies around the globe.  Reading this book has answered so many questions that I have had for a long time.  Such as, why did some societies choose to develop agriculture while others remained hunter-gatherers until the Europeans came?  The answer seems to lie in the fact that it was not so much of a choice, but rather it was more of a prescription of location and environment.  Diamond does an excellent job of relaying to the reader that there is no sort of genetic superiority that helps to explain societal advancement discrepancies, but rather, humans are all the same and the only advantage in societal development is location.  A major factor that contributed to the Eurasian advancement and often dominance over all other societies in the world was the Eurasian ability to develop agriculture due to a very fertile and large landmass that allowed for easy sharing of agricultural developments such as seeds, animals and tools.  It is with the development of agriculture and the movement away from the hunter gatherer lifestyle that allowed for food surplus to feed intellectuals and inventors that eventually contributed to the overall advancement of society.