Untouched Tribe Discovered in the Amazon

This is a really interesting issue. The first question that pops in my head is concerning the value of "protecting" these societies. This is the only way such societies could be studied, but at what point does preserving something simply for research become ill advised? Do we stand by and let half of the tribe suffer and die from small pox simply to learn how an "untouched" society will react in such a situation? Do we twist the arms of airlines to alter flight paths?

And, perhaps most importantly, what about the bad color?

It strikes me that a related issue here is a paternalistic assumption that our culture and our way of life are the preferred one. Though we consider ourselves the civilized ones, there is much savagery in our own culture and way of life. The issue you raise is like the polygamy case in Texas: outsiders assuming they know better than insiders.

I mean, I happen to think my way of life is better than living in a grass hut in a loin cloth, but the only just way to make a case is through persuasion - which would require some understanding of why they do and are what they do and are. This process of understanding may have anthropological and sociological benefits in terms of study, perhaps, although I don't think it would be a just motivation altogether for our seeking them out in order to change them. There may be good reasons to disturb them from their ignorance, including but not limited to, "the benefits of the modern world", which I take to be things like non-superstitious religion, running water, and vaccines. A major danger, however, is in not realizing that these "benefits" come at considerable costs (pollution, school violence, &c.). In short, we may have something to learn from indigenous peoples which a colonizing attitude would prevent us from learning.

What would Charles Darwin think? Protect them? For real? For those that love nature, to include the tree huggers, can you get more hypocritical upon hypocritical than to protect a culture? Yes, this culture has survived and others too have continued to survive, but lets not intervene now, just because progressives want to take the opposite stance of what the conservative folk would say.

I'm sort of in the middle on this one. I don't think this culture needs to be protected any more than any other culture that might mix by chance with its neighbors; we will find them to be just as human as the rest of us and just as adaptable to change also. That does not mean that anyone needs to go in there on purpose to immediately inform the tribe of the "error" of their ways and try to assimilate the people into whatever dominant society is nearest either. Because they are at an obvious technological disadvantage, the "right" thing to do would be to provide some protection against any violence or exploitation that may occur now that they are discovered; but I also see no reason to keep them as untouched as museum pieces. Cultures and societies are constantly under some sort of development, so why should this one be any different? As scottb mentioned, I was also thinking about the Star Trek Prime Directive. I'm not sure I understand exactly why a directive of this nature might be so important, even on an interplanetary scale.

These primate vermin should not get in the way of any territorial ambitions. Either they conform to modern society or succumb to natural selection.