Isolated Tribes Die Shortly After We Meet Them 351
Daniel_Stuckey writes: "It's a story we all know — Christopher Columbus discovers America, his European buddies follow him, they meet the indigenous people living there, they indigenous people die from smallpox and guns and other unknown diseases, and the Europeans get gold, land, and so on. It's still happening today in Brazil, where 238 indigenous tribes have been contacted in the last several decades, and where between 23 and 70 uncontacted tribes are still living. A just-published report that takes a look at what happens after the modern world comes into contact with indigenous peoples isn't pretty: Of those contacted, three quarters went extinct. Those that survived saw mortality rates up over 80 percent. This is grim stuff."
HA (Score:4, Funny)
"people die from smallpox and guns and other unknown diseases"
I'm pretty sure at least one of those was unintentional.
Re:Open SSL (Score:1, Funny)
When I said I wanted my SSL open, I didn't mean this open, am I right folks!?
Correlation != Causation (Score:5, Funny)
Correlation is not causation. It's entirely possible that dying natives cause visiting Europeans. I'll admit I'm unsure as to the mechanism, but maybe Hernan Cortes was a misunderstood doctors-without-borders kind of guy.
It's also possible that a third confounding factor causes both dying natives and Europeans. Perhaps they both generate spontaneously from gold and oil, or perhaps from tectonic action within countries with hats.
Re:What do they think? (Score:5, Funny)
What do uncontacted tribes think when they see our passenger jets and cargo ships? Gods?
"There goes the neighbourhood"?
Re:What do they think? (Score:4, Funny)
Spaceballs.
There goes the planet.
Comment removed (Score:2, Funny)