the meaning of "Better off for it" and pronoun "they" from Stephen Hawking's article?

Question

The quote is:> But we should have been wary of answering back (to the questions of aliens), until we have develop a bit further. Meeting a more advanced civilisation (aliens from other planets), at our present stage (at the current stage of the human beings), might be a bit like the original inhabitants of America meeting Columbus. I don't think they were better off for it. In the last sentence, does the pronoun "they" refer to all humans? or "original inhabitants of America"?

Answer 1

Hi there!

The "They" in question from Hawking's article are in fact the "original inhabitants." It is fairly ambiguous, but the answer is found in the context and structure of the paragraph. As modern historical knowledge of the indigenous colonization of the Americas suggests, the indigenous nations were fairly decimated by the introduction of Columbus and European invaders, to a point where even today their cultures and peoples are struggling to thrive.