Re: do we need a master game manager?

["Jay Hanson" <j@qmail.com>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Roberto Verzola <rverzola@phil.gn.apc.org>

> >Lawrence Victor:
> >I am now reading Oliver Sacks' The Island of the Colorblind.  He
> >tells of the history of boom/bust in Micronesia, where humans (not
> >reindeer, and without game managers) exhausted their commons and
> >eventually ate themselves.
>
>And so, they have probably disappeared from the face of the Earth.
>
>I have no doubt you can cite other examples. But I can also cite
>counter-examples of ancient peoples who have survived to this day.

We need to be clear that these people generally do not "disappear" --
become extinct.  Instead, we are talking about precipitous population
declines.

Jay