African Technological Revolution Update

Enabling people, and children in particular, to become the global TV journalists of their own lives is surely one of the most radical implications of the One Laptop Per Child project. This wave of undeniable testimony would make Africa a place of real people with real preventable problems, not the starving or bloated stereotypes allowed by the constraints of C20th news media.

Self-serving ex popstar or not, Peter Gabriel, among others, has been promoting this kind of independent Witness programme since the internet became a mass media. And to celebrate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is launching a twin project in The Hub, an

...interactive community for human rights, where you can upload videos, audio or photos, or simply watch, comment on and share what’s on the site. You can use each media item on the site to encourage individuals to learn more and to get involved by providing direct links to resources, advocacy groups, campaigns and actions that they can take to make a difference. Additionally, you can connect with groups or create one of your own to feature your work on the Hub.

An uncensored YouTube which cannot be interfered with by business interests or governments. This is not going to change the world alone, but it will increase pressure on the market leader to stand up to obnoxious regimes, and allow more footage which reveal their depravity.

In turn, the increased significance of this kind of new people's media will increase the pressure to treat access to digital publishing as a right, not a privilege derived from wealth. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be key in achieving this.

The Snail Which Did For The Taliban

TRANSLATION: "THIS IS MAD, MY TAIL CURES A.I.D.S. AND THEY WANT TO MAKE ME EXTINCT!!"

The Cone Snail Genome Project for Health
undoubtedly represents another major advance in the cause of medical science. The potential for non-addictive pain relief, and the possible marginalisation of opiates must be a good thing, if only to make the job of winning the Afghan War cheaper by undermining the demand for opiates.
This humble species (Conus consors) is generally to be found in warm shallow seas, the marine habitat most at risk from rising sea temperatures and other human intervention, which isn't quite so good for it.
Luckily, we have already discovered this useful little beast and can now synthesise its secret ingredient and so don't have to worry about preserving its species for future harvesting or research. Its little act of kindness is done. But its new status re-emphasises the fact that we simply do not know what miracles we are destroying before we even know they exist.
Most scientists accept that there are still millions of species unkown to man. So with every acre of habitat and every species carelessly destroyed , the chances increase that their chemical gifts to us will also be lost forever. The future beneficiaries of Conus consors may not worry, but the future sufferers of aids and cancer who may go uncured because of our insane system of planet management may not be so lucky.

Africa Leapfrogs a Generation of Technology.

The fascinating Newsnight report ('Kenya's Mobile Revolution'), broadcast this week, shows how the arrival of modern communications technology can provide genuine hope for the future of Africa.
The arrival of internet access via the UN clockwork laptop could even show the way for a new kind of economic system, suited to Africa's hostile geography and climate. To allow farmers to bipass the normal outlets for their harvests and sell (or exchange) directly on the international markets, for instance. Information really does confer power.
It would also seem reasonable to expect that when different regions of the same post-colonial African state are in regular trade and dialogue, that the post-colonial version of tribalism will change, and that synthetic hostility between tribes will become more difficult.
The traditional power structures may also be subverted by the increased role of women. And with access to free online education of the highest quality, such as the M.I.T. project, the goal of a dynamic Africa, unburdened by debt, geography or history must be a big step nearer.
In short, the implications for Africa are enormous, as the Newsnight report on the effects of mobile telephones will show. But with the first UN laptops arriving in communities from July, not to mention the long-term effects of 'micro-banking', the western world can expect to be dealing with a very different Africa in the future. And by implication, a different world. The hopeful predictions are beginning to come true. What will the pessimists say now?
And what will the Man from Del Monte and Nescafe say when he arrives to find the harvest has already been sold?
More interesting, if possible, is the light this all sheds on the ways in which technology and social change are interwoven. That an inhumanly hot, almost un-navigable, harsh terrain need not be subjected to the devastation of C20th technologies, or economics, in order to become a viable, humane, prosperous nation, able to care for its people and free them from the dehumanising drudgeries which in Britain are now folk memories, or the grittier scenes in TV costume dramas.

Why Microsoft Tried to Kill the $100 laptop