Addressing Jared Diamond: Adaptive failure

Among all the vanished civilizations, that of the former Polynesian society on Easter Island remains as one the biggest mysteries. The size if about 163.6 km2. It's position is 2000 miles from nearest continent and 1400 miles away from next habitable island.James cook during his brief visit in 1774 found out that islanders were Polynesians

. During the brief visit there were no sign of canoes or technology relevant and common during the time such as wheels which means they were isolated. There were only small shrubs and some crops with chicken as their meat source.

Most striking feature of this island is the stone statues called Moai. More than 200 of which once stood on massive stone platforms and 700 in stage of completion. The deposit of stones used to build them were found to be 6 miles away from the location where statues are erected. Each statue requires a stone with large volume, with mass about 270 tons so the common question is what was the method of their logistics?

This just shows that there was much larger group of people. A society with complex hierarchy of people which involved dividing and sharing resources within the island. This claim is further backed by the radio carbon dating, excavating and examining the soil layers. 

Carbon dating shows that first humans might have arrived there in 4 A.D. Excavation and examination of soil layers and pollen records shows that the island was abundant with rich ecosystem of plants.When Polynesians arrived The forest was dominated by palm trees. Palm trees have larger trunk that can be used for making ships, its sap can be used to make sugar and wine, and nuts are edible. The island was also breeding ground for migrating birds and home for some land birds as it was free from the predators until Polynesians arrived.But why did they go extinct?

When excavated and remained skeletons from early garbage heaps are examined 2/3rd of the skeletons comprised of fish found around the island. about 1/3rd of the bones come from porpoises. Porpoises are dolphin like mammals but not exactly dolphins. They weigh about 165 pounds. The surrounding island area is not habitable for porpoise but it was next large mammal found on the island. The existence of porpoise bones shine a light about existence of canoes that Polynesians could use for fishing. 

When looked at recent garbage heaps, two things have suddenly disappeared, one is bones of porpoises, and latter is absence of palm trees in pollen records. They seem to be connected. The consequence is devastating. As canoes that needs to cover large distance in the sea require stronger wood, the lack of palm trees meant there was no way canoes could be built; Distant fishing was not possible anymore and the migration to other islands or continent became a dream. 

Pollen records not only point at the fact that palm trees were extinct but shows whole range of flora and fauna became extinct. One striking evidence found on the garbage heap was the connection between population of islanders and its effect on island ecosystem. As population grew the need for the resources toppled the whole balance in the island. During 15th century The voraciousness of islanders led them to cut down the last palm tree. Due to lack of trees the fertile soil part was eroded. Their crops were no more producing the surplus amount required to feed the whole islanders. No surplus food meant the island could no longer feed the chiefs, bureaucrats, their priests who kept the complex society running. The society fell down to anarchy. Cannibalism was now a requirement for survival. 

The one Upmanship game the islanders were playing by carving out the stones came to stop once the last rope snapped. As time passed by they resorted to violence, they started dropping the very stones they worshiped and felt proud of. They realized about over exploitation but it was too late. Directly or indirectly they killed themselves.

If mere thousands of Easter Islanders with only stone tools and their own muscle power sufficed to destroy their society, how can billions of people with metal tools and machine power fail to do worse? 

We as a humans have fear of succumbing to same fate as Polynesians. We have same tendency as polynesians We cap and suppress the whistle blowers while enjoying the ecstasy not realizing that it is the product of over exploitation. I don't know about future but as of right now we don't even have control over our whole world energy and our knowledge is still not capable of colonizing other planets.

The main difference between Polynesians and us is that we have story about vanishing civilizations. Now its up to us as a whole human race to do something with it.

 There is a poem called Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley which reflect the same idea as this essay is trying to converge to. 

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

There is a concept of nihilism: Human values are baseless, life is meaningless and knowledge is impossible.Everything is bound to be wiped out of existence, whether that is as virtual as consciousness or specific organization of compounds or elements comprising of compounds itself. But on the optimistic side, Heat death is still billion of years away. Our goal as a human is to sustain ourselves till the heath death annihilates everything. We still have a lot of structures to build,knowledge to gain,stars to colonize but most important among all survive. Our plan to colonize other stars seems ambitious but a requirement but as long as we are stuck in earth our main goal is to utilize the resources properly. Lets hope that humans are above the greed and our species will thrive among the stars even though nothing matters at last.

 

 

 

 

 

another method of argumentation called syllogism

1. major premise

2. minor premise

3. conclusion