Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why was it humbling?
Maybe the experience of using flash?
Seeing how far we've come, but we still can't get flash right, I would guess.
Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
21–30 of 378 posts
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#22I wonder what kind of disturbance just the helicopter (or whatever method was used to capture the footage) caused on the tribe. Obviously the tribe was aware of it, but if they've never been contacted, would they be able to even fathom what such a thing is? I'm genuinely curious because I'm also genuinely ignorant on how "uncontacted" tribes like that are and what their civilization is like. Could anyone enlighten me…
I would expect that it would do what every other unexplainable but repeated phenomena did in pre-scientific cultures, become part of the mythology. See: Weather. But my only anthropology was a few GE classes in undergrad, so maybe someone with actual knowledge can chime in? Hopefully future history books (or niche Ph.D. theses more likely ...) won't include a section about the bloody war between the plane-ists and th…
from their faq (http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/articles/3109-questions-and...):
"uncontacted tribes will have seen aeroplanes on numerous occasions. The idea that this damages their self-image and/or spiritual beliefs belongs in the realm of fiction, and is based on the false supposition that their cultures are fragile. Experience shows that such peoples are in fact robust and well able to adapt to outside goods – most have been doing so for a very long time. Tribal peoples are not destroyed when they get or see things from outside, but by violence and disease as their lands are invaded."
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#23I wonder what kind of disturbance just the helicopter (or whatever method was used to capture the footage) caused on the tribe. Obviously the tribe was aware of it, but if they've never been contacted, would they be able to even fathom what such a thing is? I'm genuinely curious because I'm also genuinely ignorant on how "uncontacted" tribes like that are and what their civilization is like. Could anyone enlighten me…
There's a pretty detailed article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1022822/Incre...) that explains what anthropologists assume they're thinking. It's basically "Stay Away" since the plane is a foreign object. In fact, you can see the tribesmen readying their weapons in case the flying object veers towards them.
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#24Absolutely fascinating stuff, and for me anyway it raises some interesting ethical questions. Making contact with these tribes would (I would imagine) destroy a lot of culture, to say nothing of the obvious issues of disease, etc. On the other hand, in a society where we claim to value innovation and progress, failing to offer these tribes the benefits available to others feels a little wrong. Given the choice between our lifestyles and theirs, how many of us would choose theirs?
It raises some interesting legal questions too. In the United States for example, I believe (and I could be wrong on this) starting in 2014 we would fine these tribes for failure to purchase health insurance. To say nothing of the "Republican Form of Government" guarantee in the constitution.
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#25You know that Golden Rule?" Not the one that VCs quote, but the one that goes "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you?" We should think about that when we choose how to deal with uncontacted tribes. It may be that one day another intelligence will need to decide how to deal with us, and on that day I hope we can say, "Yes, we used to have a habit of massacring technologically inferior peoples we encounte…
I'll go one further: How do you know other civilizations don't go "the inhabitants of Earth are one of the few uncontacted civilizations left in the galaxy" and petition the Intergalactic Council to not harvest the sun for energy?
It sounds far-fetched, but do you think this tribe is thinking "there are other civilizations on Earth that we've never talked to, yet they're trying not to destroy us"?
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#26This "footage" hit the news a couple of years ago in Brazil, and a couple of days later was challenged as being fake. I could look more into details and see if there is any translation from the articles back then, but I will stand that this is NOT an "uncontacted tribe".
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#27You know that Golden Rule?" Not the one that VCs quote, but the one that goes "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you?" We should think about that when we choose how to deal with uncontacted tribes. It may be that one day another intelligence will need to decide how to deal with us, and on that day I hope we can say, "Yes, we used to have a habit of massacring technologically inferior peoples we encounte…
We should give them access to technology and to our way of life. Our way of life is better. Preserving their backwards culture so they can continue lives of misery and suffering is just as disgusting as the Prime Directive.
Help is exactly what I would want from advanced alien visitors. I don't want them to respect my culture just because it is mine; I want something better for myself, not cultural relativism.
There is nothing good or enviable about uncivilized lifestyles to preserve; any actions that maintain them in that lifestyle are ensuring they literally die young, mostly of preventable causes. Their lives are short, uncomfortable and brutal. Trying to minimize contact is ensuring they do not get modern medical care and that they retain their dark ages quality (or worse) myths and prejudices.
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
They mostly likely have had contact with some people. In the first photo, you can make out a nice machete and a pot.
Supposedly this is due to intertribal trade, rather than direct contact with the larger outside communities.
Is there some number of links that would make this tribe 'contacted' then? I would have assumed 'uncontacted' meant 'no knowledge of outside world at all' but it seems not.
Having this tribe get a machete and pot and see a plane makes it feel pretty 'contacted'. Not that I want to quibble over some definition...
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
They mostly likely have had contact with some people. In the first photo, you can make out a nice machete and a pot.
Supposedly this is due to intertribal trade, rather than direct contact with the larger outside communities.
If they like trading pots and knives with other tribes, maybe they would like to trade with the wider world if they were given the opportunity?
Re: Aerial footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe
#30The idea of uncontacted tribes - still in existence - is awesome. ...but it's a little scary too to consider the famous Arthur C. Clarke quote "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Sure, these tribes may not have been contacted, but what mythologies have evolved to explain the strange, huge bird in the sky that circles around them from time to time?
How do they know it's huge? From their point of view, it could be the size of a bird.
The story goes that the Huaorani called Nate Saint's plane a "woodbee" before he landed near them. After all, it flies and it buzzes.