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I'm back in Chicago, but not back at work (that's Monday's curse). While doing something close to nothing on the Internet, I stumbled upon "the forbidden island," AKA North Sentinel Island. This 28-square mile island in the Andaman Island chain in the Indian Ocean is inhabited by the most unknown people on Earth. I mean that quite literally, in that no non-inhabitant of that island can even speak their language! It's inhabited by an unknown number (estimated 200 or less) humans who don't wear clothing and live a stone-age existence.
These people have boats, but no oars or sails, and none of the local tribes from the other islands have had contact with them since the arrival of the Europeans in the mid-1700s. The only contact these people have with the outside world is an occasional helicopter overflight.
These humans have been completely cut off from the rest of humanity for at least hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Everybody who's attempted to land has been either killed or driven off at spear-point.
In science fiction, there is a concept called a "generation ship." This is the idea to put a group of people on a ship and send them to another star, with the idea that their descendants will complete the voyage. I've been told by some scientists that generation ships are inherently impossible - social collapse or inbreeding will destroy them.
Would somebody please tell the folks on North Sentinel Island that? It seems to me that they are running a generation ship that just doesn't go anywhere.
These people have boats, but no oars or sails, and none of the local tribes from the other islands have had contact with them since the arrival of the Europeans in the mid-1700s. The only contact these people have with the outside world is an occasional helicopter overflight.
These humans have been completely cut off from the rest of humanity for at least hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Everybody who's attempted to land has been either killed or driven off at spear-point.
In science fiction, there is a concept called a "generation ship." This is the idea to put a group of people on a ship and send them to another star, with the idea that their descendants will complete the voyage. I've been told by some scientists that generation ships are inherently impossible - social collapse or inbreeding will destroy them.
Would somebody please tell the folks on North Sentinel Island that? It seems to me that they are running a generation ship that just doesn't go anywhere.
