Dick Morris wrote in message ...
jjustwwondering wrote:
Deus ex machina?

Homo homini deus!

Human beings are net assets to each other: the
more people there are, the better it is for each of them.

Easter Island disproves that as a general rule.

Easter Island *confirms* it as a general rule.

The *smaller* that population got, the *more miserable*
it became, and the *less able* to cope.

It was small to begin with - only a few thousand -
and *isolated*. When it fell victim to some sudden
political crisis (as many civilizations do),
it failed to recover. as it became ever smaller, and as
it splintered into tiny hostile subpopulations.

These warring clans completed the ruin by destroying
both each other and the remaining productive resources
like palm trees.

Insufficient number of people, their isolation
from other people and the breakdown of their
cooperation made the EI situation hopeless.

A great illustration to the general rule
that (cooperating) people are assets to each other.

(Now, they are back to several thousands - and reasonably
happy...)

Small isolated tribes often perish completely -
and while the particular scenarios vary widely,
smallness itself is always an enabling cause. There's
safety in numbers - in more than one sense...

I don't think
cannibalism is the kind of thing you had in mind as far as human beings
being "assets".

See above. Cannibalism on Easter Island (ritual as elsewhere)
developed among the warring remnants of a *greatly reduced*
population. It was not a reaction to population being
*too large* - it never is.