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The comments here are horrific. Yes, I don't think we should invade the lives of indigenous people any more than you do. And yes, I think this young man was mi

The comments here are horrific. Yes, I don't think we should invade the lives of indigenous people any more than you do. And yes, I think this young man was mistaken and misguided. But, he went in with the best of intentions, and he died. You just don't believe what he did. Imagine a techie died while trying to teach rails to the homeless (which, I can only assume, some of you might be more sympathetic towards), would you feel the same way? Edit: p.s. The rails thing is a joke, but not the rest of it.

swatkat 8y ago
A techie might teach Rails to a homeless person if that person wants to learn Rails.
- bediger4000 8y ago
  Hobos prefer Python to Ruby. Everyone knows that.
beat 8y ago
If it was actually against the law to teach Rails to the homeless, in order to protect them? Yeah.
- verroq 8y ago
  I didn’t know that death was a proportational or appropiate sentence for this crime. And I am willing to bet that whatever Indian law he violated it wasn’t a capital offence.
  - crooked-v 8y ago
    Indian law is at best marginally applicable, as the Indian government treats the Sentinelese as a de facto mostly-sovereign protectorate. The use of force in repelling unwanted visitors is one of the basic prerogatives of any nation, even a very tiny one, and the Sentinelese even follow a reasonably ethical use-of-force continuum, with shouts and then warning shots before only shooting to kill if someone doesn't leave on their own.
- mymythisisthis 8y ago
  What if these specific homeless were known for killing anybody that came near them. That the government said, stay away from this one very particular group of homeless people (but feel free to go anywhere else that you want, and teach any of the other homeless people, that want to learn, Rails.
- projectramo 8y ago
  You're making a legal argument about whether the action should be allowed, and I am making a moral argument about whether this person deserves sympathy rather than scorn.
- smsm42 8y ago
  In some places, it's actually against the law to feed the homeless (without a proper license). Teaching Rails does not require a license, so it's probably OK (though if I were homeless, I'd rather take food).
throwawaywhynot 8y ago
Pretty sure he could wipe out the entire island because of their immune system
ahi 8y ago
While infectious, Rails doesn't risk killing the homeless.
- sergiotapia 8y ago
  You haven't seen my AWS bill! Ayy lmao
rustcharm 8y ago
The best of intentions? To erase their culture and replace it with Chr-stianity? I don't see that as well intentioned.
- projectramo 8y ago
  Well, not for unbelievers, but if he thought their souls would be saved forever (not really clear on the metaphysics but something along those lines), then yes his intentions were good. We know those intentions have caused a lot of harm. I am not saying he should have been allowed to proceed, but that it is sad that he died.
  - neeleshs 8y ago
    Yes, his intentions were not universally good, just from his point of view. For many observers, his intentions were evil. Edit : loss of human life is indeed sad, regardless of intentions or actions.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
98codes 8y ago
Intentions don't matter if your actions prove otherwise. He invaded their land in order to enact his beliefs, that the people there have repeatedly shown they want no part of.
- projectramo 8y ago
  "Don't matter" in what sense? Should his intentions render his actions legal? No. Should his intentions elicit sympathy in fellow humans? Yes
atentaten 8y ago
The road to the proverbial Hell is paved with good intentions.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
If it were against the law, local authorities respected and warned of their desire to be left alone. If numerous attempts to teach rails in the past 100 years had resulted in death, rejection of gifts, attempts to peaceably repel by firing arrows without heads and threatening until the visitor leaves. Yes, I'd feel the same way. I'd be sad that someone had thrown their life away needlessly and foolishly in the face of overwhelming evidence that it would be an idiotic thing to do. Would you feel the same if he had died having broken into someone's home after being repeatedly warned not to and that the householder was hostile and armed? "Best of intentions" is debatable - to push his religious beliefs on others. That's arrogance not good intent.
cma 8y ago
They fired arrows on him on his first attempt that didn't hit, he fled, and kept coming back to trespass over several days because an imaginary man told him to. The bad part is he was probably brainwashed into the religion as a young child, but I don't know that for sure.
- projectramo 8y ago
  With that last sentence you are making my argument for me.
- ryanmercer 8y ago
  >The bad part is he was probably brainwashed into the religion as a young child Why do, apparently intelligent, people automatically throw out 'brainwashed' 'cult' etc when it comes to religion. Is it improbable that any given religion is actually correct? Sure. Do you know what else is improbable? That 13.8 billion years ago a single event occurred that spawned an incalculable amount of events that allowed for you and I to exist, for the internet to exist, for this news article to exist, for us to be having this conversation. If someone wants to believe in the God of Abraham, the Spaghetti Monster, that we have free will, that we are nothing but accidental chemical arrangements in a cold and uncaring universe, why do you feel the need to lash out and label them as 'brainwashed' or 'part of a cult' or 'an idiot' or 'superstitious'. If they aren't directly hurting you, who cares? Does God exist? Who knows. Do we live in a simulation? Who knows. Am I an artificial general intelligence that has deluded itself into thinking it has a biotic form and is participating in the physical world and not in fact just existing on the internet itself? Probably not but it's possible. If someone's not directly hurting you, don't take a dump on their beliefs. Say "that's not for me" or better, say nothing at all.
  - cma 8y ago
    > If someone wants to believe in the God of Abraham, the Spaghetti Monster, that we have free will, that we are nothing but accidental chemical arrangements in a cold and uncaring universe, why do you feel the need to lash out and label them as 'brainwashed' or 'part of a cult' or 'an idiot' or 'superstitious'. If they aren't directly hurting you, who cares? People brought up into it from the time they were a baby don't get a fair shot to evaluate it.
yongjik 8y ago
Parents who put their homosexual kid through conversion therapy also have the best of intentions. That frequently ends up driving their own kid to suicide, or so I've heard. I don't have sympathy for these parents. This person's action could have resulted in dozens of dead Sentinelese due to disease. He was recklessly endangering his own life and the lives of people he didn't even know. Every death is a tragedy, but I find it hard to feel sorry for him.
drieddust 8y ago
Right converting to Christianity is such a useful skill in afterlife.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> But, he went in with the best of intentions, and he died. You just don't believe what he did. Imagine a techie died while trying to teach rails to the homeless (which, I can only assume, some of you might be more sympathetic towards), would you feel the same way? This wasn't the homeless, this was a society which has (overtly, if only in practice and not in name) been granted, by the relevant government, absolute internal self rule, and which notoriously applies summary execution to invaders. Whether that community should be self-governing, and whether or not it is justified in its response to intrusion are, certainly, topics perhaps worthy of debate. But, look, after making initial and peaceful contact he got in a fight with the natives where an arrow was shot into a book he was carrying, fled, and then tried to return the next day. When the people whose land you are intruding on have clearly signalled that you personally are unwelcome and they are prepared to deadly force to keep you away, I'm not sure that it can be said that your return is some kind of morally virtuous (“best of intentions”) act in any case (his actual intentions appear unclear, as his writings and comments to others indicate that thyey were either thrill-seeking or proselytization or a mix of the two.)
flocial 8y ago
More like tried to teach rails to a tribe of armed COBOL programmers in the most dangerous part of the inner city. "DHH tweeted to me in my dreams".
dang 8y ago
Throwing in flamebait like "teaching Rails to the homeless" leads only to more horrific comments, as we see below. Please don't do that, even if you're upset with how other people are reacting to a story.

swatkat 8y ago

A techie might teach Rails to a homeless person if that person wants to learn Rails.

bediger4000 8y ago
Hobos prefer Python to Ruby. Everyone knows that.

beat 8y ago

If it was actually against the law to teach Rails to the homeless, in order to protect them? Yeah.

verroq 8y ago
I didn’t know that death was a proportational or appropiate sentence for this crime. And I am willing to bet that whatever Indian law he violated it wasn’t a capital offence.
- crooked-v 8y ago
  Indian law is at best marginally applicable, as the Indian government treats the Sentinelese as a de facto mostly-sovereign protectorate. The use of force in repelling unwanted visitors is one of the basic prerogatives of any nation, even a very tiny one, and the Sentinelese even follow a reasonably ethical use-of-force continuum, with shouts and then warning shots before only shooting to kill if someone doesn't leave on their own.
mymythisisthis 8y ago
What if these specific homeless were known for killing anybody that came near them. That the government said, stay away from this one very particular group of homeless people (but feel free to go anywhere else that you want, and teach any of the other homeless people, that want to learn, Rails.
projectramo 8y ago
You're making a legal argument about whether the action should be allowed, and I am making a moral argument about whether this person deserves sympathy rather than scorn.
smsm42 8y ago
In some places, it's actually against the law to feed the homeless (without a proper license). Teaching Rails does not require a license, so it's probably OK (though if I were homeless, I'd rather take food).

throwawaywhynot 8y ago

Pretty sure he could wipe out the entire island because of their immune system

ahi 8y ago

While infectious, Rails doesn't risk killing the homeless.

sergiotapia 8y ago
You haven't seen my AWS bill! Ayy lmao

rustcharm 8y ago

The best of intentions? To erase their culture and replace it with Chr-stianity? I don't see that as well intentioned.

projectramo 8y ago
Well, not for unbelievers, but if he thought their souls would be saved forever (not really clear on the metaphysics but something along those lines), then yes his intentions were good. We know those intentions have caused a lot of harm. I am not saying he should have been allowed to proceed, but that it is sad that he died.
- neeleshs 8y ago
  Yes, his intentions were not universally good, just from his point of view. For many observers, his intentions were evil. Edit : loss of human life is indeed sad, regardless of intentions or actions.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

98codes 8y ago

Intentions don't matter if your actions prove otherwise. He invaded their land in order to enact his beliefs, that the people there have repeatedly shown they want no part of.

projectramo 8y ago
"Don't matter" in what sense? Should his intentions render his actions legal? No. Should his intentions elicit sympathy in fellow humans? Yes

atentaten 8y ago

The road to the proverbial Hell is paved with good intentions.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

If it were against the law, local authorities respected and warned of their desire to be left alone. If numerous attempts to teach rails in the past 100 years had resulted in death, rejection of gifts, attempts to peaceably repel by firing arrows without heads and threatening until the visitor leaves. Yes, I'd feel the same way. I'd be sad that someone had thrown their life away needlessly and foolishly in the face of overwhelming evidence that it would be an idiotic thing to do. Would you feel the same if he had died having broken into someone's home after being repeatedly warned not to and that the householder was hostile and armed? "Best of intentions" is debatable - to push his religious beliefs on others. That's arrogance not good intent.

cma 8y ago

They fired arrows on him on his first attempt that didn't hit, he fled, and kept coming back to trespass over several days because an imaginary man told him to. The bad part is he was probably brainwashed into the religion as a young child, but I don't know that for sure.

projectramo 8y ago
With that last sentence you are making my argument for me.
ryanmercer 8y ago
>The bad part is he was probably brainwashed into the religion as a young child Why do, apparently intelligent, people automatically throw out 'brainwashed' 'cult' etc when it comes to religion. Is it improbable that any given religion is actually correct? Sure. Do you know what else is improbable? That 13.8 billion years ago a single event occurred that spawned an incalculable amount of events that allowed for you and I to exist, for the internet to exist, for this news article to exist, for us to be having this conversation. If someone wants to believe in the God of Abraham, the Spaghetti Monster, that we have free will, that we are nothing but accidental chemical arrangements in a cold and uncaring universe, why do you feel the need to lash out and label them as 'brainwashed' or 'part of a cult' or 'an idiot' or 'superstitious'. If they aren't directly hurting you, who cares? Does God exist? Who knows. Do we live in a simulation? Who knows. Am I an artificial general intelligence that has deluded itself into thinking it has a biotic form and is participating in the physical world and not in fact just existing on the internet itself? Probably not but it's possible. If someone's not directly hurting you, don't take a dump on their beliefs. Say "that's not for me" or better, say nothing at all.
- cma 8y ago
  > If someone wants to believe in the God of Abraham, the Spaghetti Monster, that we have free will, that we are nothing but accidental chemical arrangements in a cold and uncaring universe, why do you feel the need to lash out and label them as 'brainwashed' or 'part of a cult' or 'an idiot' or 'superstitious'. If they aren't directly hurting you, who cares? People brought up into it from the time they were a baby don't get a fair shot to evaluate it.

yongjik 8y ago

Parents who put their homosexual kid through conversion therapy also have the best of intentions. That frequently ends up driving their own kid to suicide, or so I've heard. I don't have sympathy for these parents. This person's action could have resulted in dozens of dead Sentinelese due to disease. He was recklessly endangering his own life and the lives of people he didn't even know. Every death is a tragedy, but I find it hard to feel sorry for him.

drieddust 8y ago

Right converting to Christianity is such a useful skill in afterlife.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> But, he went in with the best of intentions, and he died. You just don't believe what he did. Imagine a techie died while trying to teach rails to the homeless (which, I can only assume, some of you might be more sympathetic towards), would you feel the same way? This wasn't the homeless, this was a society which has (overtly, if only in practice and not in name) been granted, by the relevant government, absolute internal self rule, and which notoriously applies summary execution to invaders. Whether that community should be self-governing, and whether or not it is justified in its response to intrusion are, certainly, topics perhaps worthy of debate. But, look, after making initial and peaceful contact he got in a fight with the natives where an arrow was shot into a book he was carrying, fled, and then tried to return the next day. When the people whose land you are intruding on have clearly signalled that you personally are unwelcome and they are prepared to deadly force to keep you away, I'm not sure that it can be said that your return is some kind of morally virtuous (“best of intentions”) act in any case (his actual intentions appear unclear, as his writings and comments to others indicate that thyey were either thrill-seeking or proselytization or a mix of the two.)

flocial 8y ago

More like tried to teach rails to a tribe of armed COBOL programmers in the most dangerous part of the inner city. "DHH tweeted to me in my dreams".

dang 8y ago

Throwing in flamebait like "teaching Rails to the homeless" leads only to more horrific comments, as we see below. Please don't do that, even if you're upset with how other people are reacting to a story.