More on Moving Easter Island Statues, with Comments on the NOVA Program

Nova has created a special presentation: Secrets of Lost Empires, to illustrate Jo Anne Van Tilburg's evolving theories on how the ancient Easter Islanders may have moved the giant statues. Almost 10 years of computerized models, and "would be' experiments have now been finally tested by the realm of reality. While this might have been the public purpose, NOVA's presentation is a classic combination of multiple conflicting motivations, a sort of "too many cooks spoil the broth" situation. One has to carefully sift through the mix of this program to separate NOVA's choreography, genuinely good and new ideas, good science, the politics of Easter Island life, and the combination of many old ideas.