The Forbidden Island • Hacker News Board

Re: The Forbidden Island

#221

Post by bargl » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 9:16 PM UTC

derleth wrote: post #18

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.

I suggest you read the following link.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6069163

Especially the answer to "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?"

Re: The Forbidden Island

#222

Post by johnchristopher » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 9:19 PM UTC

jljljl wrote: post #179

johnchristopher wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commerce with all nations, alliance with none. What can they trade ? Knowledge about their way of living, genomic studies, dieting habits, linguistic analysis, anthropological studies of they way they represent the world. Last both are really dangerous to them because those interactions will alter their culture in significant ways. The first one are highly valuable.* What can we trade ? A lot. What can we trade that…

The first paragraph reads disturbingly like the reason we should make contact with them is because the people themselves are resources to be harvested. Phrased like this, it's a really good reason why we should not make contact, because ultimately the primary thing we would gain from such contact is exploiting the people themselves.

I didn't say we have to gut them. We can talk to them and then nicely ask to pick up some stool and blood samples.

Frankly, I am more concerned about this argument I read in this thread : "We should do it for their children because they aren't given a choice by their parents get in touch with us and it isn't fair." That, is supremacy and way more dangerous than curiosity as an ideology.

Re: The Forbidden Island

#223

Post by bargl » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 9:21 PM UTC

dirktheman wrote: post #104

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 fen…

This guy posted an article that affirms exactly what you are saying.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6069163

Re: The Forbidden Island

#224

Post by johnchristopher » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 9:21 PM UTC

freyr wrote: post #195

s_q_b wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I like refrigeration, modern medicine, transportation, and high technology. Maybe those aren't your thing, but I know if I was born into a society like that, I would spend my life trying to see what was beyond the water. Or die. Because, you know, a lot of them die.

We all die.

I am pretty sure parent wanted to point out that we live much longer.

Re: The Forbidden Island

#225

Post by Friedduck » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 9:23 PM UTC

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.

Re: The Forbidden Island

#226

Post by conductr » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 9:46 PM UTC

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.

Re: The Forbidden Island

#227

Post by adriancooney » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 10:07 PM UTC

Project Loon's target audience.

Re: The Forbidden Island

#228

Post by b0rsuk » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 10:07 PM UTC

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.

Re: The Forbidden Island

#229

Post by 205guy » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 10:22 PM UTC

snake_plissken wrote: post #199

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

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.

Re: The Forbidden Island

#230

Post by 205guy » Fri, Jul 19, 2013, 10:29 PM UTC

aet wrote: post #136

If you find this interesting, you may also like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha

I have been reading up on distant islands for years. The topic is fascinating and seemingly endless (wikipedia now has more and more articles covering these remote specs).

However, Tristan da Cunha was uninhabited and the current settlement is part of the modern world--just significantly limited by distance and difficulty of access. It is fascinating to study how humans live and relate in such small communities, but Tristan's inhabitants are fundamentally unlike the Sentinelese with their status as an uncontacted tribe.