Josh Sidhu
Sep 1, 2018 · 7 min read
You never know what — or who — lives in these dense forests

Stuck. Stuck on a small rock in an empty space. Opening their eyes they see sunlight, pure and unadulterated. They know loneliness, and they know darkness like nothing we have seen. They, in their pitiful existence, are primitive and ignorant. And then there is us. Us with are helicopters, and ships, and iron, and fire. And we too, are primitive and ignorant. Despite our the impressive scale of our Earth, we are still microscopic. We know nothing of the technology out there in our vast existence. We cannot know who is there, who is watching, who cares for us, and takes interest in our small lives. We are looking for our aliens.

But for those that live outside our global civilisation, there is a different truth. They know their aliens.

Indeed, for uncontacted tribes like the Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island, the Dani of Papua New Guinea, the Mbuti of the Congo, the twenty communities of the Vale do Javari in Brazil and possibly hundreds more, there is no Earth. Their world is the forest or island that they inhabit, they are the protectors of their world, and as far as they are concerned there is no humanity outside of it. To them, we are extraterrestrials, unfamiliar, and unforgiving. We are their aliens.

“Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed,” said Stanislaw Lem in his classic Philosophical Science-Fiction novel Solaris.

It is incredible that, in an age where the negative impacts of colonialism and aggressive exploration are political and social issues that are discussed frequently and intensely, to believe that there are still people who have yet to be touched by ‘civilisation.’ Yet, in a true testament to the human spirit, tribes which have had little to no communication with outsiders soldier on in the jungles of Brazil, India, the Pacific Islands and more. Moreover, these are just the people who have been discovered, there may be more that have never been photographed, or even seen.

“At a rough guess, there are probably more than one hundred around the world, mostly in Amazonia and New Guinea,” explains Rebecca Spooner of London-based Survival International, an organization focused on the welfare of tribal peoples worldwide.

Though it may be difficult to believe that there are still people living a traditional tribal lifestyle, they do have reasons to not reach out to outsiders. In the past few decades, their land, ways of life, and populations have been threatened by the allure of natural resources, farmland, and disease. In the Amazon, where it estimated half of these tribes remain, narcotics cartels have infiltrated the area and initiated contact in pursuit of hidden regions for their operations.

“At a rough guess, there are probably more than one hundred around the world, mostly in Amazonia and New Guinea,” explains Spooner.

The most unique unsettled region, however, is far from both of these. The aforementioned North Sentinel Island, a part of India that lies in the Bay of Bengal, is one in the Andaman Island chain. The islands are lush, tropical forests naturally, and served as a prison under British rule, but have since been settled into a modern Indian territory. The capital of the region is Port Blair, a town notable for its museums, naval bases, and tourism. Accessible by air from all major Indian cities, the town houses over one hundred thousand people. Yet just a short boat ride of 54.3 kilometres away is the traditional home of the Sentinelese.

Where the people of Port Blair have ample access to electricity, vehicles, air travel, and processed foods, the Sentinelese could not be any further from this lifestyle. They do not cultivate crops, have yet to discover the practicality of fire, and remain restricted to their native home. While Port Blair is comprised of people of different beliefs and backgrounds, speaking Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, and English, the Sentinelese are completely homogenous in heritage. The do not welcome outsiders under any circumstances, and speak a language different from any known dialect in the region.

Living in close proximity to a populous chain of islands, the Sentinelese have been encountered on a few isolated instances. During the medieval ages, strategic naval bases were established, diplomatic and research missions were sent throughout the late 19th century and during the 20th century, anthropological research was attempted, and members of other local tribes were brought to help map out the language. Yet, despite all of these efforts to learn about about these people, their culture, language, and history remain an enigma to the outside world. In short, no meaningful contact was established.

The Sentinelese give us perspective on one of the most incredible elements of humanity, our connectedness. Though we may look different, sound different, and think very differently, we recognize each other as human. These tribal people have very little sense of humanity. To them, we are something foreign, possibly violent, but definitely a threat. In reading more about these people and their way of life, it seems more and more probable that they are right. We are aliens.

A Sentinelese youth will wake during the day and expect to survive. He lives the same day, and the same life as those that came before him. In this time, the last Ice Age ended, the woolly mammoth died out, the Egyptians built a lasting civilisation, as did the Greeks after them, and the Romans following them, mythology and religion has evolved and evolved again hundreds of times, agriculture developed and industrialized, the Renaissance arrived and faded, electricity, and combustion engines, and aviation connected the globe like it never had been before, and the Internet did it again, and these people knew nothing of this. The amount of technological innovation and sweeping social change of the last few millennia is indescribable to someone living outside of it. All of this is alien.

In a way, the Sentinelese are the most incredible people on this Earth. Knowing nothing of its opportunity, yet, completely unaware of its corruption and hate. They live in a blissful ignorance that will be passed onto future generations. It is saddening to think of what they are missing from their existence, but more importantly, there is a lesson to be learned from these people.

They are our connection to our past. Before permanent settlements and social systems, before infrastructure and mathematics, humans were survivors who lived to see the next day. In the Sentinelese, and the other tribes like them, this pure human spirit is kept alive and cultivated. This is our connection to them. But as long as it is buried deep within, we have nothing in common. We come from a different world, speak in strange tongues, and fly our alien machines tantalizingly close.

Unfortunately, close is as close as we can safely be. Peaceful contact with these tribal peoples is an extremely difficult endeavour for several reasons. When a helicopter was flown towards North Sentinel Island to observe the people it was attacked with a volley of rocks and arrows; clearly, its size and fast moving blades were rather terrifying. The underlying issue is that explorers are considered threats. Furthermore, there are major language and cultural differences that will stand in the way of any meaningful discourse. The most important reason, however, is a physical one. The moment an outsider comes into contact with these people, they will pass on pathogens that will decimate indigenous populations.

The immunity that humans have developed to certain diseases is an effective preventative measure, but the techniques and practices of modern medicine are what stands in the way of a major epidemic breaking out. For those that live outside of the reach of immunity and scientific medicine, there is very little protection. Just as European explorers passed on their diseases to the indigenous people of the Americas, we cannot risk exposing unprotected people to modern viruses.

This means conversation and physical contact with our possessions, or with theirs, is hazardous, and should only be attempted after exceedingly thorough precautionary measures are implemented.

The last remaining uncontacted tribes are the final frontier for land exploration. Their native land and lifestyles are the last remnants of the true human spirit, they are the connection to our past, our nomadic history of survival. But beyond this, they are an ethical dilemma. With our technology and global civilisation, we have the option to bring them into a world well ahead of theirs. We have the chance to provide medicine, and industry to those that are struggling to keep up their dwindling populations, but we must exercise caution. Attempts to integrate an entire community to a new culture have been unsuccessful, and even cruel in the past. Is it right to take these people out of their world.

They are not like us. They live in a different time, in different places, and have different practices. We, in our alien wisdom, would be wrong to equate this to an empty life. They have health, material possessions, faith, and fulfilment, regretfully, it would be wrong to factor ourselves into their lives.

So we hover. We hover and observe and report back to our leaders. We stay in our UFOs with our mysterious vehicles and dangerous instruments. We speak in our foreign tongues, making strange sounds and even stranger gestures. We can watch and protect, the way the Indian government made sure that the Sentinelese survived the tsunami of 2004, but we keep ourselves from actively interacting with people who are not ready to live in our world. Most importantly, we do not judge. We hold our opinions on their beliefs and practices inside. We display our compassion and empathy. And when the time comes, and these people are ready to reach out, we show them our understanding and curiosity. Even as aliens, we respect them.

Josh Sidhu

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I write about productivity and motivation. It’s my dream to launch a full-time blog, so if you want to help me out, follow me! It would be much appreciated.

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