Adaptive Failure: Easter's End

Culture has many characteristics, which include that fact that it is shared and social, it is learned, it is used creatively, etc. The characteristic that is highlighted in this reading is that culture is adaptive and maladaptive. The adaptability of culture enables its people to make changes to allow them to thrive. But every culture participates in some activities that are counterproductive to its survival. Smoking is a minor example of a counterproductive behavior that …

…the Easter Islanders? If we continue down this same path, our civilization will not be here to benefit from those shopping malls and Wal-Marts. A thousand years from now, a future archeologist may have to study our skyscrapers and other marvels of our modern world, to learn about our society. If we don’t want to share the fate of the Easter Islanders then we need to pay attention to history and learn from it.