Kennric (#62): Thanks. I was going to write a long reply to some of the comments on my comment. However, your post is much better than what I would have written.

Does is bother anybody else that groups like this are always referred to as 'tribes'? The word 'tribe' is weighted will all kinds of colonialist, western-triumphalist baggage. Also, it's extremely imprecise. Define: tribe.

From the photos, this looks like an extended-family group to me. Probably no more than 20 people living in a couple of longhouses.

Also, why should we 'leave them alone'? Aside from the strong possibility of infecting them with our various diseases. They are people just like us. They should have the choice of participating in modern society and adopting modern technology if they want to. It's hard to put yourself in that position but I like to think that if I was one of those people I might be frightened at first, but later pretty glad to have been introduced to the entire world of possibilities outside my little rain forest territory.

Reminds me of an old David Byrne song from the Knee Plays. The song was called social studies. An excerpt:

...
When shopping at the supermarket
I felt a great desire to walk off with someone else's groceries
So I could study them at length
And study their effects on me
As though if I ate their groceries I would become that person; until I finished their groceries
...

http://www.davidbyrne.com/music/cds/knee_plays/lyrics.php