guns germs & steel by jared diamond

Old Easter Island genomes show no sign of a population collapse
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/09/old-easter-island-genomes-show-no-sign-of-a-population-collapse/

(in short, Diamond's thesis in Collapse = wrong)

self-destructive dummies

There is plenty of irony in the fact that Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond's book previous to Collapse, was written specifically to refute the idea that indigenous people were or are in any way less capable, imaginative, observant, adaptable, or intelligent than the people who colonized and subjugated them. He argued rather strongly that the differing rates of technological and social development among various peoples was mostly dependent on geographical and environmental circumstances or historical accidents that neither the indigenous people nor the colonizers had any control over. iow, he apparently believed indigenous people were far from self-destructive dummies.

Where are you getting the phrase "self-destructive dummies" from? It doesn't look like anyone else had used it in this thread, nor is it in the article linked in the post above yours

Sorry. I should have said "self-destructive dopes".

Long presentation from a couple of archeologists who effectively demolish Diamond's hypothesis that Easter Island's inhabitants were a bunch of "self-destructive dopes."

http://longnow.org/seminars/02013/jan/17/statues-walked-what-really-happened-easter-island/

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, March 4, 2013 11:58 AM (eleven years ago)

"self-destructive dopes" comes from Stewart Brand - having a grimacing "really ET, did you have to quote him?" moment rn.

aside, apparently so many people have come into /r/AskHistorians asking about GGaS that all of the criticisms have been rounded up into the FAQ for the group
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historians_views/#wiki_historians.27_views_of_jared_diamond.27s_.22guns.2C_germs.2C_and_steel.22

and /r/AskAnthropolgy
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnthropology/comments/1rzm07/what_are_some_of_the_main_anthropological/