Norse Greenland

I have been reading about historical societies and their success or failure. I have been reading most recently in the book "Collapse."

The historical society, so far, that most resembles Los Alamos is the Eastern Settlement of Greenland as established by the Norse in about 1000 CE and abandoned in 1406 CE.

This settlement refused to learn from the natives how to survive and depended on fluctuating local environment and on an unreliable lifeline from Norway.

Toward the end of its life, the Eastern Settlement turned to building giant churches and ignoring the needs of the populace. This strategy did not work out. Everyone died as they consumed their fields (to make new buildings) and consumed their livestock, which they needed in order to survive, so that they could eat.