Untouched for 40 years

Day 26, Sunday: Something you read online. Leave a link and discuss, if you'd like.

I'm really excited about today's prompt. I've found two really interesting articles recently, so today I'll share one of them with you.

This article was published in the Smithsonian Magazine about a family who was discovered living in an extremely remote portion of Siberia. For 40 years this family was untouched by other humans or the world. They lived in the mountains, 150 miles from the closest settlement. Their two youngest children had literally never seen another human that wasn't a member of their small family.

Their House

A group of geologists were flying over when their little house and farm was spotted. They tracked the family down, and at first the meeting did not go so well. Especially for the two youngest who had never seen another person before.

They left the house and waited on the edge of the clearing for the family to come talk to them when they were comfortable. The family had fled religious persecution in Russia and had just kept going further and further from civilzation.

Over time the geologists shared a bit of technology with them, and tried to help out their family. While the geologists were working in the area, every single family member except for one died.

This is where the anthropologist in me thinks, was it better for the family to have their lives touched by the geologists who gave them things they desperately needed, or would it have been better for them to have remained isolated forever?

Honestly, I am not sure, but I'm inclined to think perhaps it would have been better for them to be left alone.

Read the article, and tell me what you think.