This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Anthropologist Dr. Carl Lipo says everything we thought about Easter Island’s famous collapsed civilisation is wrong. He suggests Bermuda can learn lessons from that catastrophe about long-term survival on our own isolated, water-parched island.

I currently serve as an Associate Professor at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). I am part of the faculty of that forms the basis of a Program in Archaeology and a founding member of IIRMES, a multi-disciplinary institute for the study of materials, environments and society. At CSULB, I teach classes in Introductory Archaeology, World Prehistory, Eastern North American Prehistory, Artifact Analysis, GIS, Statistics, Method and Theory, Foundations of Anthropology Field Research Design, Geophysical Techniques, and the Scientific Study of Origins. My research focuses on the use of evolutionary theory to generate scientific explanations about human cultural change in the archaeological record. I see this focus as a critical challenge for the social sciences and that our ability to be able to due this task vital to our future. My perspective is fairly idiosyncratic to my background but lodged in the philosophy of science and evolutionary biology. You can view some of my recent work (here) to see a little into how I think about the world. My recent studies include the development of theoretical models and the construction of methods for studying patterns of change caused by cultural transmission and the process of natural selection in cultural systems. In addition, I have interests in remote sensing to efficiently and non-destructively study the record. This work includes the use of magnetometry, resistivity, conductivity, thermal imagery and ground penetrating radar. My field research has taken me from the Mississippi river valley to Easter Island to California and coastal Guatemala.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)