Islands like Flores are really biological experiments and what makes this experiment so valuable was, in it there were humans involved, not modern, but humans who clearly could not become supreme in their local environment, but who had to adapt and evolve. And they certainly evolved, even if even a few decades ago it would have been claimed that they devolved.

In a way, this is one of the great stories of humanity, and a tragic one. They lived hundreds of thousands of years on a little island, separated from most of the humanity, like on a different planet, and when we took the steps to our current state, when we are mature enough and would be able to find a way to communicate with them, then they are gone. In even the timeframe of humanity, they were here just little while ago. We missed a great chance to learn much, about them, about ourselves, about evolution.

Somebody will one day write a great book about them.

But if we take a leap far in the future, maybe this tells us what we should except when humanity reaches first other planets in our solar system and then planets around other stars. We will start evolving then again in a more quicker pace. There will be no people looking exactly like just us on planets that have been settled for some time, as a response for their new environments humanity will diverge and new human species will emerge Then Homo sapiens sapiens will not be alone anymore. If we will not f*ck up in the coming century or so, there will be lot of stories like the little people of Flores. Some will be tragic, like theirs, but many will in their time leave species that are descendent from them.

Of course we, as Homo sapiens sapiens, the members of the last surviving human species, have a tremendous responsibility. We are now alone. 30 000 years ago there were four human species. Now there is only one. If we fail too, then there will be no one to replace us. Everything that has come before would be wasted. We must succeed to survive.