
The Forbidden Island - VexXtreme
http://www.neatorama.com/2013/07/08/The-Forbidden-Island
======
geuis
I'm pretty late to leaving a comment, so it won't get a lot of exposure.

Let's just leave these people the fuck alone.

What threat are they under? Curious assholes like us. There are probably less
than 1000 people on that island, all descended from people tens of thousands
of years ago. There are more people than that that visit an Apple store on a
Tuesday before 2pm.

Leave them alone.

We don't need to assuage our 10 second collective attention span by ruining
their lives, destroying their history, and effectively ending a lineage
thousands of years old.

These people probably have their own ideas about the weird shit washing up on
their beaches and the crazy stuff in the sky that drops outsiders and food
from time to time. Leave them to it. It doesn't matter what they think, no
matter how curious you think you are.

Leave them alone.

For the physics-minded, think of them as a sample of humanity in Schrödinger's
box. It's not a cat, but people. Except in this experiment, any direct
observation will absolutely kill the people. Any exposure to disease, customs,
or technology without their explicit choice will kill them. Maybe they don't
physically die, but their lineage will end.

~~~
homeomorphic
I don't know… suppose some highly advanced aliens with for the most part
benign intent found us. Would you _really_ like them to "stay the fuck away"?
I, for one, would love for our technology to leapfrog ahead centuries, even
though it would completely change our culture.

The disease part can be handled today. We _could_ go visit them in hazmat
suits. And I know I'm being really generous when I'm comparing the modern
world to benign aliens, but properly managed (as access to the island already
appears to be) surely we can approach them in a decent way?

That they violently defend themselves is of course a highly complicating
factor.

I guess all I'm saying is that _not establishing contact_ is also a choice
that we're making on their behalf. Is deciding that they _can 't_ parttake in
modern society any more OK than deciding they must? Can we not contact them in
a way where they get to choose?

 _Edit:_ I certainly agree that we as humans have an absolutely horrible track
record on these kinds of things. But it's been a while now, hasn't it? Can't
we pull this off by now? These guys are our brothers and sisters - should we
at least not have a chat with them to see if they really want to be left the
fuck alone, or if they might want to not die whenever they get an infected
wound, or half the time they have kids, or whenever they break a leg? Hell, it
might well be that _some_ of them want to be left the fuck alone, while some
would like to see the world. How come those latter ones have to stay on that
island just because we say so?

~~~
userulluipeste
The (Star Trek's) Prime Directive is not something worthwhile to be considered
here? The representatives of these people (the ones with bows and other kind
of weapons that dare to face the outsiders) are stating clearly their policy.
Maybe it is us that must get over our desires to intrude supposedly on someone
else's benefit.

~~~
Anderkent
The representatives of these people are hardly in a situation where they can
make an informed decision. Even if they were, they have no right of condemning
their children to such life.

~~~
annnnd
That doesn't really matter. If a girl refuses to go out with you, she might
not be in a position where she can make an informed decision. And she is
possibly depriving her future children of a magnificent father, condemning
them to life without you. But you should still respect her "NO".

On a more serious note, given some historic evidence how our contact with
other tribes ended (pick any tribe, anytime, anywhere) I am both surprised and
happy that they exist. I hope they stay the same for as long as possible and
may we never learn anything about them.

~~~
Anderkent
But if a man is jumping of a cliff because he thinks he can fly, you should
not respect his 'NO' when trying to catch him.

Your serious argument is one of the little valid points raised so far. And I
agree, we might not be in a position to help them now. But the statements that
even if we could bring them to our society in a humane manner we still
shouldn't, because they're clearly fine as they are... That just disgusts me.

~~~
ctdonath
They're not jumping off a cliff. They've been doing fine (insofar as they're
surviving with a small population) for some 60 thousand years. First contact
alone will probably kill them with diseases (a well-documented phenomenon).

More akin to a guy standing on a ledge of a cliff, albeit precarious but doing
fine; if you try to help him, he'll probably fall and die fast. He knows this,
and he's telling you to stay the he11 away.

That said, I am sympathetic with your basic view. Les Stroud's _Beyond
Survival_ was fascinating, but the recurring theme of "and this ancient people
is about to die out or lose their culture" struck me as "well, if doing stupid
things[1] isn't survivable then maybe those ways should change, and the
consequences of sticking to them are natural." The Sentinese however seem to
be holding it together pretty well; not advancing, but living on what is
otherwise a stereotypical tropical paradise island (food growing on trees,
good climate, water), methinks they've achieved some form of comfortable
equilibrium and are doing pretty well (I'm sure some here on HN are thinking
"I'd like to join them").

Someone mentioned above "your 100 kids will leave the island, move to India,
and become call center employees". That vs. where & how they're living now,
I'm not so sure "bring[ing] them to our society in a humane manner" really is.
Someday it will happen, someday modern life will crash into their ancient and
stable culture, someday they will have to deal with new diseases and cell
phones and high-speed transport, and "someday" probably isn't very long from
now.

"But the kids need to do X and Y and Z!" my wife declares. "They're content
and playing nicely with their toys and crayons," I'll reply. "Let them enjoy
it a little longer."

[1] - the clincher was a tribe that fishes by dangling bare hooks in the ocean
for hours while sitting on poles. I'm amazed that culture lasted so long.
Yeah, they need some help.

~~~
dennisgorelik
It's not about their interests. It's about our interests of preserving that
ancient culture for our research purposes.

~~~
thret
I was going to say the same thing. Their scientific value as a primitive
society preserved against all odds is something we will never see again. To
destroy it on a whim would be akin to killing the last dodo for food.

Some type of hidden observation as in the movie Insurrection might be
worthwhile though? Someone should ask the NSA, are they really comfortable
with these people NOT being monitored constantly? They could be a terrorist
threat?

~~~
true_religion
Having the scientific value of their society trump the need of their people to
have better health and livelihood seems a bit utilitarian to me.

------
gokhan
On leaving / not leaving them alone:

 _"... They make it clear they want to be left alone."_

 _" But could this be because they don’t see the benefits of ‘our’ way of
life? If they knew, might they want to join us?"_

 _" They won’t get the chance. In reality, the future offered by the settler
society is to ‘join’ at the lowest possible level – often as beggars and
prostitutes. History proves that tribal peoples end up in a far worse state
after contact, often dead."_

[http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/articles/3109-questions-
and...](http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/articles/3109-questions-and-answers-
uncontacted-tribes)

~~~
nazgulnarsil
This needs to be higher. Many commenters seem to be acting as if the choice is
between mud hut and glorious western way of life.

------
dirktheman
Let’s suppose our earth is visited by aliens. Giant extraterrestial spaceships
appear. They make contact, abduct a couple of humans, some of which return
with strange diseases. Oh yeah, and heaps of iPads as gifts. The people that
make it back speak of a strange society, where everybody is essentially a
mindless part of a big mainframe, not unlike the Borg in Star Trek.

One day, the aliens make contact. We try to fend them off, but our weapons
don’t seem to harm them. They explain that their intentions are good, and that
by assimilating mankind, we no longer have to deal with hunger, poverty,
crime, fear or even death.

You like?

Absurd, right? Yet this is probably not far from how the Sentinelese see us.
They have heard from diseases they cannot fight from other tribes, they have
witnessed the abductions. Why should things be different all of the sudden?

My point is: we have to stop seeing our culture or civilization as superior.
In the alien analogy, becoming a Borg-like drone is probably far better in the
eyes of the aliens. Why would these ‘savage’ humans would want to deal with
the perils of life? Why can’t they see that we’re just here to help them?

Their culture, their world view is so far apart from ours. Do we really think
that, when we show them a modern hospital, they’ll think it’s a good idea? Do
we really believe that these people would somehow benefit from things like
cell phones, cars, education, healthcare? Besides, we can’t show them just the
good stuff. We can’t NOT show them pollution, taxes, budget crises,
alcoholism, child pornography or facebook.

I’m sure the ones that genuinly want to help these people have good
intentions. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions. No matter how
good our intentions are, making contact is not in the best interest of these
people. They don’t need our view of what is civilized, and they don’t need our
vices and virtues. And they make it pretty clear, too.

Leave them alone.

~~~
resu_nimda
The devil is in the details, as always.

Would I want to be left alone by the Borg? Yes. But what if it was The
Culture? I would be very disappointed if a civilization like that saw us and
said "Oh, they probably wouldn't want all of our bullshit, leave them alone."
I'm sure there are many who would disagree.

The big problem with the alien analogy is our level of knowledge and language.
The tribesmen are...savages. There is no framework whatsoever for them to
understand anything about modern society and make reasoned evaluations.
Conversely, it's hard to imagine that scenario between us and aliens. It's
certainly possible that their society is so far beyond our wildest dreams that
we can't even begin to make sense of it, but it's also possible that we have
crossed some fundamental threshold of knowledge and communication.

Is our culture superior, is it not, how can that be evaluated? Most people
_do_ tend to stay in it rather than set out into the woods. Of course they
have been biased towards that since birth, likewise for the Sentinelese and
their ways, it's a really interesting and highly subjective question.

Whether we attempt to contact/assimilate them or not, we have made a choice.
If we did try, it could go well or it could go poorly; they could be eternally
grateful for knowledge and technology, or they could be destroyed. There are
so many factors and ideological viewpoints at play, I just don't understand
how people here can be so sure that one way or the other is The Right Thing to
Do.

~~~
ricardobeat
> The tribesmen are...savages

tribesmen.. savages.. how about _people_? You can't judge them solely by
technology. If the historians are correct, they have 65.000 years of cultural
evolution under their belts.

The thing is, we _know for a fact_ that attempting contact or "assimilation"
will result in a wide variety of failures. It has happened again and again.
There is no incentive at all for us to make them fare well in our society. We
can't even take care of our own. They seem to be healthy, happy and free of
trouble; why not focus your good will on the 1 billion other people that are
already 'assimilated' and live in much worse conditions?

------
dirktheman
Fascinating story, as well as the wikipedia article about uncontacted peoples.
I really appreciate the Indian government for the exclusion zone, as contact
with the rest of the world will probably wipe them away.

From a anthropological standpoint, this is a nice paradox. I'm sure
anthropologists would LOVE to study an uncontacted tribe. Particularly this
tribe, as they appear to be of African descent yet are living in the middle of
the Indian ocean. Unfortunately, there is no way of studying these people
without, well, 'contaminating' them.

~~~
terhechte
You can always fly drones around. Edit: Non-Lethal, Non-Army drones. Just
flying cameras to see what's happening there, or how they're living. Even
better, really small cameras that look a bit like slow-moving birds.

~~~
dirktheman
I think it would freak them out. A metal bird, making strange humming noise,
hovering over their heads...

A couple of years ago I was driving on the I-95 from Las Vegas to Tonopah. Out
of nowhere, a predator drone came up and flew next to our car for a good
couple of hundred yards. A strange and somewhat frightening experience, even
for someone who knows what drones are.

Besides, the thick jungle canopy wouldn't allow drones to get a good look
anyway. We could launch crawling cameras, disguised as forest creatures, but
the risk of getting exposed isn't worth the potential damage to the tribe,
IMHO. I think the best thing to do is to just leave them alone.

~~~
chrischen
Haha. I think the army was doing target practice on you. They usually practice
targeting the drones on unsuspecting cars in that area.

~~~
dirktheman
Pretty sure they were. I can only imagine the smile of the drone operator,
seeing the faces of the freaked out tourist couple in their rental car...
Can't say I wouldn't do the same!

------
julianpye
Well, ever since the Intergalactic foundation created a no-fly zone around our
solar-system in order to let us remain uncontacted, we are in a similar boat.
People outside there look fondly at our antiquated technology as the good old
days.

~~~
dadoes
O.O Is this from a book or something?

------
damian2000
I read about it earlier here via this wikipedia entry ...

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples)

------
conductr
Makes me wonder what they think of us.

Who are we? Aliens? Where are we coming from? Space? What is all this weird
technology? UFOs?

They must have a story of "visitors" they tell to each generation. It started
a long time ago. They came in weird boats and wore weird cloths. Over time,
they would appear again and again. Different weird boats and different weird
clothes every time. Sometimes they had white skin, sometimes they had brown
skin, sometimes maybe even with pale skin with slanted eyes. They always
looked different and weird. They always carry different weird looking weapons.
Recently, they come a lot. They fly in weird boats with wings. They fly in
weird boats with spinning blades.

------
snambi
Yes, this is true. I have seen this on indian TV channels. Even indian govt
doesn't go there. Somehow indian politicians are not able to bribe and corrupt
the tribes. Well done tribes.

------
ambuj
This is interesting too - "An expedition led by Maurice Vidal Portman, a
government administrator who hoped to research the natives and their customs,
accomplished a successful landing on North Sentinel Island in January 1880.
The group found a network of pathways and several small, abandoned villages.
After several days, six Sentinelese were captured and taken to Port Blair.
They soon became sick, and two of them died. The other four were returned to
the island." \-
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island)

~~~
adrianb
It's described in the article as well:

"Finally, after several days on the island, the party stumbled across an
elderly couple who were too old to run away, and several small children.
Portman brought the two adults and four of the children back to Port Blair.
But the man and the woman soon started to get sick and then died, probably
from exposure to Western diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza, to
which they would have had little or no resistance. So Portman returned the
four children to North Sentinel Island and released them with gifts for the
rest of the tribe. The children disappeared into the jungle and were never
seen again. "

------
__voidcast__
Wow. Here is the account of one of the helicopter pilots(Captain Robert Fore)
who rescued the Primrose
crew...[http://www.eternalidol.com/?p=8593](http://www.eternalidol.com/?p=8593)

------
batbomb
Sterilize some drones and send them on in.

~~~
zwegner
You're being downvoted, but assuming you're talking about small non-weaponized
drones, it's not necessarily a horrible idea. If you could do it without the
people noticing, then you could learn a lot and not harm them. Of course,
you'd heavily violate their privacy, but it's better than exposing them to
diseases. I'd say I'm still against it, but given the kinds of viewpoints on
privacy that are mainstream these days, it's at least worth contemplating...

------
ColinWright
In case you're interested, here's the shipwreck:

[https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=North+Sentinel+Island&ll=11...](https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=North+Sentinel+Island&ll=11.593508,92.212452&spn=0.002627,0.003449)

------
ddeck
_> It's estimated the the 28-square-mile island (slightly larger than
Manhattan) is capable of supporting as many as 400 hunter-gatherers_

Assuming this is accurate, I'm amazed that so much land is required to support
a single individual. More so given it's an island with access to marine food
sources.

------
canvia
Would there be any chance that in their isolation that different diseases
evolved that the rest of the world doesn't have immunity to? It would seem to
me that us wiping them out with one of our diseases isn't the only thing we
should be worried about.

------
javert
A bunch of strangers all over the world conversing on the Internet about
whether a primitive tribe ought to be contacted.

This really does seem like science fiction.

In comparison to them, we are like godly beings, communicating in some
unfathomably high-tech way to discuss their fate.

------
restlessmedia
I'm thinking of the 'mind blown' meme when wondering how they would react if
they knew I was sitting here, using my fingers to display a language that
could be instantly available across the world.

Oh, the power.

------
yread
> They've never invented oars, without which they cannot leave the island.

Hmm so how did they get _there_?

~~~
ctdonath
Actually looking at a map, the island is a mere 20km from a much larger
island, which in turn is a few hundred km from mainland. The larger island is
situated such that anything floating out to sea from the mainland has a 25%
chance of hitting the larger island. From there, someone would find their way
to the smaller island.

Quite possible that some people floated out to North Sentinel Island in a
confluence of events. Once there, if you don't have oars odds are you're not
coming back if you leave (floating or swimming).

------
huherto
This is fascinating.

What about genetic diversity? With only 1000 people can they keep reproducing
without long term effects? I can't believe they have been isolated for over
60,000 years.

~~~
n11
I was wondering the same thing. And, I'm curious to how they sensed the
tsunami coming and were able to escape to higher ground in time.

------
bedhead
Fun tidbit I read while searching for more info about these people. Evidently,
some explorers sat in their boat just offshore in 1970 as some of the male
warriors were on the beach. The explorers threw the men some gifts but refused
to leave. How did the natives respond? Why, the women emerged from the jungle
and immediately engaged in a giant orgy with the warriors, of course.

Dont mess with a good thing.

------
bevan
Ironically, they could be the last ones standing if a disease sweeps the rest
of the world.

On another note, it would be interesting to know what they eat, and to know
the incidence of chronic disease in their culture. The results would likely be
surprising:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_Price](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_Price)

------
billiam
Stick to the comments about node and ember, guys. Your views about humanity,
civilization, and anthropology make me embarrassed for you.

------
scdoshi
Meanwhile, on other Andaman islands, there were human safaris happening. Most
likely still are, but you probably have to grease some palms.

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/07/andaman-
islands-...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/07/andaman-islands-
tribe-tourism-threat)

------
JonSkeptic
>members of a hunter-gatherer tribe that has lived on the island for 65,000
years.

>It's estimated the the 28-square-mile island (slightly larger than Manhattan)
is capable of supporting as many as 400 hunter-gatherers, but no one knows how
many people live there.

Did anyone else read that and think "That is a lot of inbreeding."?

------
JoshGlazebrook
Definitely one of the most interesting things I've read in months. Had me
thinking of LOST at first heh heh.

------
snake_plissken
I am curious, what methods are anthropologists using to try to date how long
they have live on the island?

~~~
205guy
I had the same question (the article isn't that great, it comes from a
"bathroom reader"). From previous reading about this fascinating topic, I
think they must've established the dates for the other tribes and other
islands of the Andaman chain, and then just assummed North Sentinel was
similar. I think that's a fair assessment because its size and location is not
atypical, so there's no (apparent) reason to assume it was settled earlier or
later than the other islands.

This of course begs the question of how they got to the island. In the past,
when sea levels were lower, there may have been land bridges between islands
and the mainland (not sure 'cause I haven't studied the bathymetry). Another
explanation for how they got there is that they did have sails or oars in the
past, but they were forgotten over time.

------
sjay
Question: if we investigated these people, and found out that they had some
'bad' ritual practice like female circumcision or human sacrifice -- would we
have a moral obligation to intervene and stop them? Or would we have a moral
obligation to leave them the fuck alone?

------
peterclary
I knew there had to be a Control Group somewhere...

------
thecosas
Leave them alone.

They've somehow managed to stay alive through tens of thousands of years and
limited interaction with us. People have approached them over decades and they
have made the choice numerous times to push out the outsiders.

Despite this, I went down a rat-hole of trying to find out more about them...
and then decided thats where it should end. I don't need any more information
than what's already out there. Anthropologists need not find out more while
risking their own safety and the survival of these people.

------
aet
If you find this interesting, you may also like:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha)

~~~
andyking
The difference being, people can and do go to Tristan da Cunha. I know someone
who's been there. They have telephones, internet access, satellite TV and a
radio station.

~~~
aet
You can go, but you can't stay.

------
iskander
>last 65,000 years...62,000 years before the ancient Egyptians built the
pyramids at Giza.

A very minor nitpick, but the Giza pyramids were built around 2500BC, not
1000BC.

------
Friedduck
The naivete of anyone who thinks introducing a 65k year-old culture to modern
society is truly, truly impressive. Imagine what it would take to achieve a
perfect (as evidenced by the span of time) equilibrium with your environment.

We through around the word sustainable pretty readily these days, but this is
the real thing. These people have achieved a sustainable existence unlike any
other.

------
b0rsuk
I wonder, has anyone tried visiting them _naked_ ? At the very least, what
would their reaction be ? Also, maybe sending a party of black-skinned people
would accomplish something ?

As for my personal opinion, I would be most pleased if we could make enough
contact to talk with them for at least 1 day, then leave them alone. To learn
their beliefs and outlook of life.

------
joering2
as one of the comments from the article points out to google map:
[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=North+Sentinel+Island&ll=11.5...](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=North+Sentinel+Island&ll=11.593418,92.21249&spn=0.016049,0.007178&hnear=North+Sentinel+Island&gl=us&t=h&z=17)

looking at this island (looks huge!), am I the only one who feel so sick and
tired of what the US government does to its people and our land, that I want
to fill up my jetski and just head that way? Only if the tank was large
enough...

Edit: zoom out on the island.. and think about this: somewhere under the green
down there there are living people like me and you that do not know what
internet is... or cell phones.. or ipads.. cable TV... anything..

~~~
unimpressive
>Edit: zoom out on the island.. and think about this: somewhere under the
green down there there are living people like me and you that do not know what
internet is... or cell phones.. or ipads.. cable TV... anything..

Or books, for that matter. Such things probably aren't as important if
everybody you will ever have the chance to meet in your life numbers 400
people.

~~~
nitrogen
Isn't it just as unethical to withhold modern learning from these tribes as it
would be to infect them with our modern diseases?

~~~
danparsonson
If they wanted it, certainly, but they attack any non-islanders who come near
so it seems reasonable to assume they're not interested.

Besides, what do they need to know that they don't already after living on the
same island for 65,000 years? I'm assuming you're thinking about modern
medicine but I expect they have their own ways of dealing with illness, and
increasing their life expectancy might actually make things worse - the island
can presumably only support a limited number of people at any one time.

~~~
nitrogen
I'm thinking more of math and science. I suppose if the island's leaders are
aware of the outside world and all it can and can't do, then I'd be less
concerned about the "oppressed" minds of the island's inhabitants. I feel
similarly about ultra-sheltered children in cultish societies.

~~~
danparsonson
I would say those are two different examples though - children in cultish
societies are removed from society at large while the cult remains embedded in
and aware of it; the islanders on the other hand have deliberately chosen
isolation rather than having isolation forced upon them by any external agent.
I would say it's really up to them to head into the outside world rather than
for us to do anything, if they want to see what's out here. And clearly they
don't.

The only hint of 'oppression' I see here is the idea of pushing our way of
thinking onto a group of people who aren't interested and, to my mind, would
derive questionable benefit from it. They must surely have sufficient
'science' to have survived there for this long and unless they intend to
venture away from their island, what useful things could we teach them? I
can't picture them building a particle accelerator or sitting around all day
puzzling over integrals.

~~~
eshvk
> the islanders on the other hand have deliberately chosen isolation rather
> than having isolation forced upon them by any external agent.

There is an implicit assumption that they are a democratic society where a
decision was taken with the consent of everyone. You have no way of knowing
that. For all you know, they could very well be a cult with some old fogey
launching attack troops at the evil invaders whilst the young struggle
mightily against the oppressive regime.

> I can't picture them building a particle accelerator or sitting around all
> day puzzling over integrals.

That is rather patronizing. You have no way of knowing if they are interested
in that. No one knows if they like blueberry pie unless they actually try
blueberry pie.

~~~
danparsonson
> There is an implicit assumption that they are a democratic society where a
> decision was taken with the consent of everyone. You have no way of knowing
> that. For all you know, they could very well be a cult with some old fogey
> launching attack troops at the evil invaders whilst the young struggle
> mightily against the oppressive regime.

Or they could be communists. Or anarchists. Or whatever. We have only slight
evidence to make any sort of judgement, that evidence being that every time a
non-islander has gone near them, the visitor has been repelled or avoided. If
that says anything to you besides 'go away' then you're projecting your own
opinions onto them.

> That is rather patronizing. You have no way of knowing if they are
> interested in that. No one knows if they like blueberry pie unless they
> actually try blueberry pie.

I'm sorry that you chose to interpret it that way; that's not what I intended.
The point I was trying to make was that I couldn't imagine these people
engaging in any activities unrelated to their current way of life. The reason
I make this statement is that they've had thousands and thousands of years to
do so and yet apparently haven't. And yes, by your earlier argument, maybe
they have a secret underground facility or perhaps they're the prisoners of
some other advanced agent but I'm inclined to prefer the simplest explanation
which is that they are a basic tribal society with no interest in the world
outside their borders. The evidence, scant though it is, suggests nothing more
than that without speculation on our part. It's not patronising to suggest
that they don't think like others of us do.

Recall that the original post I replied to posed the question of whether or
not it was unethical to withhold modern learning from them, and my point
(which still stands) is that invading the home land of a group of people who
are all shouting "we don't want blueberry pie" to give them blueberry pie
because we think it's delicious but dammit, they haven't tasted it yet so how
do they know? would be unethical, not the other way around.

If they want to meet us, and partake in the exciting wonders of the modern age
- the rest of humanity is a boat ride away. All they need to do is develop
oars. Or at least stop shooing away visitors.

------
zenocon
Discovered this guy's flickr photostream via article, and it is amazing:
[https://secure.flickr.com/photos/christiancaron2000/page1/](https://secure.flickr.com/photos/christiancaron2000/page1/)

------
lechevalierd3on
I can't find anything on the inbreeding. From what I've read somewhere an
animal species need at very least 200, or so, specimen to survive. There are
guessed to be between 40 and 400.

------
smountcastle
Is anyone able to find the wreck of the Primrose on Google Maps satellite
image? I've looked around the perimeter of the island but cannot see it -- did
the Indian government clean it up?

~~~
Malcx
[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=primrose,+north+sentinel+isla...](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=primrose,+north+sentinel+island&hl=en&ll=11.597885,92.212071&spn=0.021776,0.042272&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.042042,86.572266&t=h&hq=primrose,&hnear=North+Sentinel+Island&z=15)

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gngeal
This was the best part:

 _" when an Indian Navy helicopter tried to recover them from the beach, the
Sentinelese fought it off with bows and arrows"_

Indian Navy should feel ashamed! :D

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tiatia
Would be a nice idea to just get rid of the few bozos there and open your own
nice little kingdom. Maybe develop a tax heaven and vacation destination.

------
ZanyProgrammer
I'd like to see some actual evidence for that 65,000 year old claim. It
doesn't pass the paleoanthropological smell test.

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alexvr
I wonder if they have evolved differently. Is 65,000 years enough time for any
significant change given their circumstances?

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adamwong246
Prime Directive, folks. Respect it!

------
ExpiredLink
Site was ycombinatored. Down now.

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mariuolo
Leave them alone, or find a way to study them without their knowledge.

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maerek
Prime Directive.

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adriancooney
Project Loon's target audience.

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malkia
"62,000 years before the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids at Giza" \- this
is probably mistake.

~~~
dgesang
Why? Because the Earth is only 6000 years old?

------
dgbsco
Send in the robots.

------
derleth
Just think: A life without the damage wrought by modern antibiotics,
dentistry, surgery, and preventative medicine! Where if you get sick with
something that a week's worth of pills would clear right up, you're gonna die
in pain! Paradise!

Yep, nothing quite like the Noble Savage, who has the dignity to die of
something you've only heard about in old novels.

~~~
6ren
The archaeological record shows that tooth decay increased dramatically with
agriculture, and prior to that, was much less frequent than today. It's one
step forward, two steps back - at least, for dentistry.

Many of our dramatically beneficial advances - such as covered sewage and
vitamin-supplemented bread - solve problems that did not exist for less
densely populated hunter-gatherers.

The big problem for them was carrying capacity, meaning you had to migrate,
fight the tribe next door... or practice infanticide. Overcoming these is the
true achievement of our age.

 _EDIT_
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel)
_EDIT2_ I'm saying pre-agriculture people had/have better teeth and gums than
you do now.

~~~
lukifer
Don't forget the other major problem that civilization solved really well:
infant mortality. (Unless you take the Malthusian perspective and see it as a
boon to population management.)

~~~
scrabble
The interesting thing here is that we have no idea if they have also solved
infant mortality, but in a different way.

They've been around for so long, it's likely that they've solved some of the
problems we have in unique ways.

