Re: [GZG] A number of scientists respond to Hawking's concernsabout Aliens

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http://mail.csua.berkeley.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lOn 13/05/2010
2:25 AM, emu2020@comcast.net wrote:
>
> In all seriousness I like the fact that Hawking was willing to accept 
> the fact that aliens, if encountered have just as much of a chance to 
> be a foe as a friend.
>
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinelese_people

An alien civilisation would likely have as much interest in humanity as 
the we have for the Sentinelli. Except the difference in technology 
would be wider.

> The Sentineli are the quintessential Andamanese: to this day they live

> their primitive but comfortable and unhurried lives in complete 
> isolation on a small island, they are hostile to all outsiders and 
> they do not wish to change this state of affairs. Violence is the 
> traditional way to ensure the undisturbed enjoyment of their way of 
> life. In the 21st century, they will kill strangers outright and they 
> hide from landing parties that look too strong to fight. If the 
> landing parties offer coconuts and other goods, they will condescend 
> to accept these, but as soon as the feel they have received enough, an

> obscene gesture makes clear that the outsiders are no longer tolerated

> and had better leave in a hurry:
> Immediaterly following the earthquake and tsunami of 26 December 2004 
> there were fears that the Andamanese negrito tribes had been wiped 
> out. The authorities were busy looking after their own and could not 
> be bothered to check on the "natives" until 3 days after the disaster 
> had struck. Then a helicopter was sent to fly over North Sentinel 
> island to check for survivors and if necessary to offer assistance. 
> The crew of the helicopter was confronted by a Sentineli warrior 
> shooting arrows at the machine while others were throwing rocks. The 
> message could not be misunderstood: the Sentineli had lost none of 
> their pre-disaster self-confidence and they still did not want any 
> help or contact whatsoever. It wass the most cheerful news to come out

> of what was otherwise a devastating disaster. Whether the Sentineli 
> are safe in the longer run is not sure. The earthquake has tiled the 
> islands, some coral reefs have sunk wile others have been raised with 
> hardto estimate damage to thei Sentineli fishing grounds (see the 
> section on North Sentinel island of Tsunami Maps).

> Repeated gifts left for them have mellowed the Sentineli a little in 
> the 1990s and a few visits during which landing parties on the beach 
> were not immediately chased away have taken place. But the Sentineli 
> are still on a short fuse. On one occasion a high-ranking official 
> pulled rank on the anthropologists and insisted on staying longer and 
> going closer to the Sentineli than the scientists recommended. 
> Binoculars on the visitors' boats had spotted a number of warriors 
> hiding in the bushes; they made no hostile moves and seemed to be 
> there just to observe the meeting on the beach but their presence was 
> unsuspected by the visiting party on the beach. When that party had 
> overstayed its welcome and even tried to move closer to the Sentineli,

> an invisible red line must have been crossed. Warning arrow shots were

> fired while the hidden warriors stepped from their hiding places. In 
> the rush to the boats, the official responsible for the mess was in 
> such a hurry that his boat overturned and he had to be pulled in, 
> dripping wet. This seemed to amuse the Sentineli as much as it did the

> accompanying anthropologists - though the latter would have been 
> well-advised to hide their mirth. Unfortunately, at that moment the 
> official's armed guards panicked and a shot was fired into the air. 
> This went down very badly with the Sentineli (who clearly knew what 
> guns were for) and seriously hostile arrows began to fly. Luckily for 
> the visitors, their boats by that time were already out of range.

http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter8/text8.htm

Their lives are no doubt nasty, brutish, and short. But their own.