by Francesco Racco
Close your eyes and imagine living on an island where no one has ever sent you a vowel, she has never asked you to update the software, make a call on zoom or send a reaction to a cat video. Sixty thousand years of prehistoric bliss, no algorithm, no influencers, no notification.
Then one day, at 10 in the morning, he comes. A rubber dinghy arrives with a guy in technical shorts and front camera, determined to bring you the civilization in the form of a coconut and diet coke.
His name is Mykhailo P., he is 24 years old, he is American-Ukraine and said he was pushed by “passion for adventure and desire for extreme challenges”. Which, translated by Youtuber jargon, means: “I want views and many followers even if I have to disturb the latest human beings on Earth who do not know who Chiara Ferragni is”.
Only human safari was missing towards the Sentinellese, called “the most fragile society on the planet” by those who still think that certain human beings are entitled to privacy. But when the modern man has a drone and a smartphone, who can ever stop him? The scene is perfect: he who scrutinizes the island with binoculars as in an old duplicate of adrenaline quark documentary; Then the landing, the can offer as a pledge of peace – because nothing says “I don’t want you badly” like a zero sugar drink and one hundred percent colonial – and finally the attempt to get noticed with a whistle. Maybe he thought that the Sentinellese were reported dogs. Only the alarm clock was missing.
But nothing, the natives, evidently more evolved than you think, have ignored him. Not an arrow, not a stone. Perhaps they developed the first antibody against digital content: indifference. The Indian authorities, however, a little less patient, arrested him. And now the young Ulysses of social media risks up to five years in prison, a frankly excessive sentence for a naive stunt, perhaps a tread of dish was enough in the Deretano. A reasonable price for a handful of views and the illusion of being the new Magellan, while you are more than anything … well, the adjective put it you, Fill in the blanks: …………… in the meantime the Sentinellese, returned to their canoes and common huts, will never know anything about it. They will continue to hunt with arch and arrows, speak a language that no one has ever recorded and lived, blessed, in the corner of the planet where the invasion of the ego has not yet arrived.
