Corporate Plasticity: How to Change, Adapt, and Excel

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Plasticity

In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond makes a compelling case for why world history turned out to be what it is. Many of us may have speculated about the question of why the native Americans did not board big ships to invade Europe. Why did it instead happen the other way around?

Diamond’s answer to this question goes like this. Eurasia had many big animals that could be domesticated, and because the continent stretches from East to West, the same plants and animals could be used over vast stretches of territory. In contrast, the Americas had only one large animal that can be domesticated, the llama. Other large American animals, such as the bison, turned out to be too aggressive for domestication. ...