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Swedishboy360 t1_j684zub wrote

Reply to comment by MaliciousHippie in TIL workers dismantling the wrecked MV Primrose off of North Sentinel Island were confronted by the isolated Sentinelese, but defused the situation by giving them bananas and letting them on board to acquire scrap metal. Workers were visited by the Sentinelese 2-3 times a month for 18 months. by CaptainJZH

The problem is that North Sentinel island isn't in the middle of nowhere. There are other islands in the area where the native were brought "civilization". The result was poverty and misery. The sad truth is that they're probably better off being left alone

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MaliciousHippie t1_j698zi3 wrote

While it's easy to romanticize the avoidance of Civilization while we're in it, I don't really think life is "better" for them.

I think it makes "us" feel better, because we can say we kept someone away from it all, but in reality it we're just gatekeeping.

The country of Iceland (372k people) has an app because accidental incest was such a thing, now how do you think the Sentinelese (<200people ) are doing? You need around 500 or so to be able to avoid "genetic drift"

All that being said, I do think we should leave them alone

But on the other, if it turned out the island had used their young women to breed like cattle as soon as they're fertile, would we still leave them to their isolated ways?

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Indica_Joe t1_j699y8m wrote

The question I've always asked is would you rather the middle class today or a king A Thousand Years ago? 95% of people say they would rather be middle class today.

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