The Uncontacted Tribe: A Reminder of our Humanity
Though seemingly impossible, anthropologists are aware of at least one tribe of human beings left on Earth that is uncontacted. By this word, we mean to say that their ancestors were never discovered by European explorers, and their little patch of the jungle has not been visited in the many generations since. We know about them, but they don’t know about us. They have absolutely no knowledge of skyscrapers, cars, streets, electricity, metallurgy, or any other post-agricultural technology. It’s truly mind-blowing.
Last thursday, on May the 29th, anthropologists flew over their village and took a few pictures. The first time they flew over, the tribespeople seemed to be going about their daily routines. When they flew over again a few hours later, the tribespeople were painted in red, apparently pointing their arrows at the plane. One can imagine what a bizarre sight it must have been for the tribespeople, to see this enormous metal creature screeching through their sky.
What an awe-inspiring moment in human history this is. Here on this Earth, on the very same day, one man points a bow and arrow at a demonic bird sent by the Gods, while the other sits on his laptop writing a blog entry about it. Indeed, the tribespeople have become something of an Internet phenomenon. I don’t know about you, but it makes my head spin.
It’s a timely reminder of how large the Earth is, and a humbling reminder of our origins. It just goes to show how truly recent our notions of progress are – what a minute instant of time the project of civilization has been.
I think this tribe should remain uncontacted. If this one small group of human beings were to endure the generations ahead without feeling the unnatural flatness of asphalt, without squinting through fluorescent-lit warehouses, without breathing stale ventilated air, it would be cause for worldwide human rejoice.
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It’s unfortunate that our culture will likely disallow them from being uncontacted. We’re probably going to “enlighten” them with our superior technology and knowledge. Our culture, our civilization, is obviously superior to theirs – we’d be enhancing their lives by introducing them to our culture. They obviously cannot be satisfied with their subsistence living. I personally think they’d be much happier working 9-to-5 jobs, and having the blessing of money, computers, mandatory education, and television.
Sorry to burden you with this sarcastic reply, but I’ve been giving a considerable amount of thought lately to how people of our culture are slaves to consumerism (and slaves to our culture in general). It’s comical how we work unsatisfying jobs to earn our living. And what is “our living”? Our culture would suggest that “our living” is monetary in nature. We do, in turn, transform this monetary currency into goods such as food and shelter, but there are a plethora of other goods – luxuries – out there that we are convinced enrich our lives. And the more the better! So, we spend our entire lives working to buy these goods. To reach the pinnacle of satisfaction – an asymptotic point, one that may never be reached. In other words, we work longer hours to ensure more leisure. But we never get to enjoy this leisure because of the long hours we work (mostly in jobs that we find unsatisfying, unrewarding, and meaningless).
It would seem that working a job that we find satisfying and meaningful may actually provide substance to our lives. But we are still slaves to rent, mortgages, leases, etc. And we’re still convinced that meaning is derived from the tireless efforts we put into these meaningless jobs to pay for the rent, mortgages, leases, etc. But everything about our lives (other than the scraps of time we find for leisure) is unsatisfying.
For this reason, I believe these tribal people are lucky. They work collaboratively to live – they all care, and are invested, in the well-being of the tribe. They work (and relax) as time allows – if they need to eat, they need to forage and hunt. If they need to sleep, they rest. No burdenous expectations, no scheduled lunch breaks, no emphasis on maximum productivity.
As per usual, I have been heavily biased by my book du jour. Take a read: “Beyond Civilization” by Daniel Quinn (the author who wrote “Ishmael”). Some acid-tripping hobo recommended it to me (hopefully that recommendation buys your vote).
Mark - June 2, 2008 at 9:54 am
Amen.
Annonymous - June 7, 2008 at 5:34 pm
It’s a Shame that the photos were taken by a relatively low-flying craft. Especially since we are capable of capturing High-definition video from a 1000 meter altitude, Planet Earth style.
I hope the next curious Anth prof eats a spear.
James - June 8, 2008 at 3:57 pm
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/91536
“The Not-So-Lost Tribe
by Mike Krumboltz
June 23, 2008 06:09:40 PM
Even in an age when cynical sleuths can hyper-analyze stories for truth and accuracy, the occasional hoax still slips through the cracks. Such was the case with a so-called “lost Amazon tribe.”
A few months ago, mainstream news outlets (including, ahem, Yahoo!) reported that a photographer had found a lost tribe of warriors near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. Photos of the tribe backed up his claim.
As it turns out, the story is only half true. The men in the photo are members of a tribe, but it certainly ain’t “lost.” In fact, as the photographer, José Carlos Meirelles, recently explained, authorities have known about this particular tribe since 1910. The photographer and the agency that released the pictures wanted to make it seem like they were members of a lost tribe in order to call attention to the dangers the logging industry may have on the group.
The photographer recently came clean, and news outlets, perhaps embarrassed at having been taken for a ride, have been slow to pick up the story. Now, the word is starting to spread and articles in the Buzz are picking up steam. Expect a lot more brutal truth in the coming days.”
just saw this. reminded me of another situation that happened recently:
http://www.regrettheerror.com/newspapers/photographer-admits-faking-widely-published-image
Matt Gough - June 23, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Even if they were lost, we should contact them.
People often have rose tinted spectacles – they think the past is better than the future. But think about this – do you think these people starve? Do you think they get disease? Do you think they have shorter lives than we do?
Violence isn’t modern. Disease isn’t modern. Suffering and pain isn’t modern – there are problems with modern society, but our society has considerably less suffering than these “lost” societies. Think about it – you have clean water, no? Do these people have clean water? I do not think so.
Civilization is justified because we need science. Without civilization providing population concentration centers and allowing the mass production of necessary goods, science could never take place.
A society such as theirs has no science. No biology. No mathematics. No understanding of the universe as we know it. A society like that, is weak, susceptible to more dangers, less stable, more prone to disease, and it’s members will lead shorter lives. Remember, for a long time, humans only lived to about 30 to 40 years of age. To get to fifty was considered an achievement. Now, thanks to modern technology, some of us live till 80.
Others have pointed out on your blog that modern society is meaningless, only about material pursuit. Oh really? I live in a very modern society, yet my life has higher meaning and purpose – and I found it through scientific pursuits. And I like my lighting, my heating, my clean water and my excellent health and dental condition. I like my vaccines and my television.
Now some would then say that this primitive society is better than a technologically advanced society, because it is more eco-friendly. Oh really? The Mammoths were wiped out by tribes very much like this one. Wood-burning releases a lot of CO2, almost as much as using oil.
These societies are at the mercy of nature. If we all lived like this, the very FUTURE of the human species would be precarious. Remember, animals go extinct all the time, in the natural world. Things didn’t start going extinct just because we came along. Without technology, humanity would be little more than cave-dwellers, unable to grasp the majestic wonders of physics or biology, unable to look to the stars and marvel and the universe, unable to secure our future, or develop deep philosophical arguments. We would be destined to become just another species which lived for a few million or so years in caves, and then died. But with technology, we have a chance at becoming so much more than that. We can be the first species to go to other worlds, to preserve our existence beyond what “nature” has given us. We alone, through our technology, have the only hope of becoming something greater.
And I want this tribe to be a part of that human endeavour – bring them books, bring them computers, bring them society!
Think about it – how many of you would allow your children to grow up in a society without clean drinking water, sanitary facilities, no schools or books, no job prospects? How many of you would like to live like them? We need to help these people. They can become just like us. And that would be a benefit to them. We cannot keep them like they are, museum pieces to make us feel more “culturally sensitive”. For THEIR sake, they must be modernized.
The Thieving Magpie - June 30, 2008 at 7:41 am