### id261665535 smallpox killed all literate people on Easter Island > In Rapa Nui culture, only the privileged few could be taught how to read and write, and after a smallpox epidemic went through the island, anyone literate was dead and the symbols were just that - symbols - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fqpd0bnc2dat0302k8fn2bs4) - [[Review How To Invent Everything by Alex Irpan#id261665535 smallpox killed all literate people on Easter Island|View in Vault]]