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Internationally-renowned scholar Jared Diamond brings his knowledge to GREAT MINDS for the 25th anniversary of his steady bestseller, Guns, Germs, and Steel.

In his first lecture, "Why Civilizations Are Unequal," Diamond talks about why world civilizations have developed at different paces throughout history. He uses scientific evidence to explain that Europeans conquered the world not because they were more intelligent but because of geographical and environmental factors that gave them certain advantages.

His second lecture, "Why Wealth Gaps Exist," looks at inequality within and between countries from a geographical perspective. He explains the effect different temperatures have on economies, why rich countries become poor, and why countries are poor despite their rich natural resources. He also introduces cases where countries overcame their environment disadvantages and became rich.

In his third lecture, "Why the East and the West Are Different," Diamond looks at the different cultures of the East and the West as he delves into the fundamental cause of that cultural chasm. In particular, he focuses on the different agricultural styles and prerequisites of the two hemispheres to explain the cultural difference between the West, represented by the US and Europe, and the East, represented by Korea, Japan, and China.

Lecture four, "The Catastrophe That Inequality Will Bring," examines the effect that rampant global inequality has and will have on humanity. In particular, Diamond focuses on how international inequality has first-world countries consuming most of the resources and reaping the benefits and the effect this has on poor countries, calling on first-world countries to reflect on this problem.

In his final lecture, "2050: The Year Civilization Will Collapse," Diamond gives the audience a peek at the dystopian future humanity may face should it fail to overcome the crisis it is facing. Diamond explains the four risks the planet is facing and discusses how we can overcome this crisis.