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Topic: virus: Forgotten posting (Easter Island) (Read 1162 times) |
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hkhenson@rogers...
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virus: Forgotten posting (Easter Island)
« on: 2003-10-26 19:08:57 » |
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Been archiving old diskettes to CD ROM recently and found this from 1990:
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To: libernet@dartvax.dartmouth.edu
Subject: Easter Island/Overpopulation
Lines: 38
Date: Mon, 19-Feb-90 14:56:26 PST
Message-Id: <9002191456.1.136@cup.portal.com>
X-Origin: The Portal System (TM)
X-Possible-Reply-Path: hkhenson@cup.portal.com
X-Possible-Reply-Path: sun!portal!cup.portal.com!hkhenson
Keith Lynch asked me to post a reference to Easter Island. The best
I can do without a trip to the library is a quote from David Brin (of
SF fame) from an article in Analog, May '83. (reprinted in the same
_Analog--Essays on Science_ that reprinted my article on memetics.)
"Polynesia may, indeed, be representative of interstellar settlement,
but not in a pleasant sense.
. . . . .
The most severe example is the island of Rapa Nui, also called Isla
de Pasqua, or Easter Island. Isolated thousands of miles from its
nearest neighbors, it was as much like an interstellar colony as any
place in human history when it was settled around 800 AD. . . . .
The Pasquans utterly destroyed the virgin ecosystem of Rapa Nui in
a few generations, ravaging the forest until only banana trees were
left. When no wood remained for houses or boats, they had to abandon
the sea and its resources, along with all possibility of escape or
trade. What remained was native rock--which they carved into
hauntingly desolate images--and warfare.
When Europeans arrived, the natives of Rapa Nui had just about
destroyed themselves."
*********
I had completely forgotten about posting on the subject of Easter
Island--which has of recent become a major interest of mine because it
provides a first class example of privation induced war.
Keith Henson
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Kharin
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In heaven all the interesting people are missing.
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Re:virus: Forgotten posting (Easter Island)
« Reply #1 on: 2003-10-27 08:03:19 » |
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See also: http://www.greatchange.org/footnotes-overshoot-easter_island.html
Quote:"In just a few centuries, the people of Easter Island wiped out their forest, drove their plants and animals to extinction, and saw their complex society spiral into chaos and cannibalism. Are we about to follow their lead?
Among the most riveting mysteries of human history are those posed by vanished civilizations. Everyone who has seen the abandoned buildings of the Khmer, the Maya, or the Anasazi is immediately moved to ask the same question: Why did the societies that erected those structures disappear? " |
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simul
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I am a lama.
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Re: virus: Forgotten posting (Easter Island)
« Reply #2 on: 2003-10-27 08:53:15 » |
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Humanity creates structures of cooperation when it is forced to share resources. Not all structures are equal however, and most do not last very long. The natural conequence of stability is memetic speciation. That is, increasing ideological polarization within the stable whole. Occasionally this result is two compatible ideologies that fill viable niches. The United States is the oldest democracy in the world. Our political system has long since degraded into a duopoly. The majority of our political leaders were born into wealthy families and never had to work a day in their life. In ordert to justify their good fortune, they are falling back into genetic justifications of superiority. Obviously memetics, not genetics, is responsible for success in our modern world. Unfortunately, most of the ruling class is closed to any sort of advanced thinking in this area.
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First, read Bruce Sterling's "Distraction", and then read http://electionmethods.org.
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