On Sat, 1 Jan 2005, Eubulides wrote:
> Oh, GW diplomacy is definitely collective action failure on a massive
> scale.
And in Diamond's catalog he never touches on this except superficially and in passing. Which is why his entire dilatory argument is besides the point. The knowledge problems on which he spends all his energy are secondary. The primary problem is a political one. Which was (most likely) true on Easter Island as well. And which he never even begins to address.
(BTW, I keep saying "most likely" in relation to Easter Island because, despite Diamond's pose that we know for sure what happened there, in fact it's all speculation. Ditto with the Mayas and mostly for the other societies was well. I hope his book separates theory from fact better than these articles do. Otherwise his whole argument is kind of ironically self-contradictory besides being besides the point.)
Michael