I'll say it's NOT acceptable to be a hermit because this is what happens. Nobody is truly a hermit. In this case, this guy's contribution to the people around him was stealing their stuff. His net contribution to the world is less than zero.

The source of the problem is the hermit fallacy. Animals need other animals. Mammals need other mammals. Humans need other humans. I know of nobody who was immediately abandoned the instant they were born and who then survived fine through adulthood without any help whatsoever from any other human.