[willyboyishere]

"...the default condition of the human experience"
-----beautiful and apt phrase.
Yes, they seem stuck in a historical warp, and "left out" of even the ancient but modernizing cultures they mostly sprang from. If they don't directly become a major problem for us "militarily",they are in the meanwhile becoming a huge problem for the countries they're already living in, like Pakistan. Whether we will have to deal with them, or their own countries do, it will require the "strong stomach" I mentioned even to watch the chaos unfold.

[aruanan]

Yes, they seem stuck in a historical warp, and "left out" of even the ancient but modernizing cultures they mostly sprang from. If they don't directly become a major problem for us "militarily",they are in the meanwhile becoming a huge problem for the countries they're already living in, like Pakistan. Whether we will have to deal with them, or their own countries do, it will require the "strong stomach" I mentioned even to watch the chaos unfold.

I was reading somewhere that the middle ages was characterized by a level of brutality, ruthlessness, and violence, even among the people we in the present day consider good back then, that is completely shocking to modern sensibilities. I know that Michael Crichton (sp?) uses this in his time-traveling (not quite) book, the name of which escapes me at the moment. You can put it another way, "Teach a caveman how to use a cell phone and you'll have a cell phone-using caveman." Technology will only extend the reach of his hand, not modify the use to which he puts it; it will only expand the available territory in his worldview, not broaden his horizons. If this person, or group of persons, were living in some isolated part of the world today, people would not have much need to fear them because their level of technology wouldn't allow them much influence beyond their immediate physical presence and the speed with which they could walk or run from one place to the next. However, if they acquire the ability to use modern technology (which has always been one or another type of force multiplier), then their ethos becomes dangerous to the extent that they can use that technology to impose it on other people. It's always easier to learn to use some technology in order to facilitate one's ambitions (think of a 16-year-old's view of car ownership) than it is to modify one's worldview in order to use that technology in a way that won't kill oneself or hurt others.