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Comment by pinguo | Hacker News Reader

This article completely glosses over Chau's selfishness, he exposed the Sentinelese to outside pathogens that they have no immunity to and could have killed all of them, that might currently be killing them for all we know. He possibly wiped out a stone age community of real people.

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The article makes multiple references to the fact that he could have infected the islanders, I'm not sure what led you to this conclusion.

The article also mentions that he immunized himself against a dozen diseases -- probably in addition to the vaccines that most Americans get in their childhood -- and quarantined himself for a while, too. He was definitely aware of the risk and tried to minimize it. Not sure whether that was enough, though. If the North Sentinelese have been isolated since the end of the last ice age, they could be vulnerable to something that outsiders don't even care about, like our normal gut flora.

Well, specifically it said he "attempted to immunize himself against 13 diseases", which isn't equivalent to actually doing that. Furthermore, I get the sense that his isolation was primarily to avoid the authorities ("he stayed not at the Lalaji but secretly—and illegally", use of the word "safehouse"), and not due to biological concerns. If anything, that was a second order benefit in his mind - "The benefit of that is that I was essentially in quarantine"...

and in the name of what? God? wanting to be an adventurer/explorer that he so obviously idolised? his actions were ignorant and worse, genuinely harmful. the press narrative focuses on his religion and desire for adventure and largely ignores the fact that he legit endangered people

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” -- John 14:6 (emphasis mine)

Once you throw eternal heaven or oblivion/hell into the equation, then no matter how terrible the method, if you convert even a single person, it was worth it.

This always puzzled me - how can good Christians do nothing while (according to Christianity) countless souls are lost?

Real people indeed; I didn't think they were fictional.

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