Why are some countries wealthy while others have remained poor for most of their history?

It might seem to imply that advanced societies were somehow destined, because of their environment, to dominate the less advanced ones. He counters this by arguing that interpretations of a historical explanation are separate from an explanation itself; his question does not contain a value judgment. Others might object that Diamond’s question provides a Eurocentric approach to history, meaning it glorifies the status of Western Europeans. In fact, Diamond’s answer will actually show how European civilization borrowed heavily from other people’s earlier civilizations. Finally, Diamond also responds to those who believe that using phrases like the “rise of civilization” implies that civilization is good while tribal hunter-gatherer lifestyles are inherently bad. He does not intend to celebrate one type of society over another, but simply to understand how the two forms of society came to be.