[kictanet] Interesting Piece ...

Fri Jan 27 00:46:08 EAT 2012

Asante sana. It's good to hear you like KI. And that really was an
excellent piece, even though I say so myself. (I'm a
cognitivist<http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/research/emotion/cemhp/documents/dalgleish_bramham.pdf>about
emotions---so I'm not sure I can follow the author all the way, but
it's a v. good piece).

We also published another
piece<http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2799&catid=269:review&Itemid=227>,
from Binyavanga Wainaina in 2009, which spoke to something very similar.
This time, it was the centrality of vocation. See what you think.

Daniel Waweru
www.kenyaimagine.com
Art and analysis; debate and opinion.

On 26 January 2012 05:45, Francis Hook <francis.hook at gmail.com> wrote:

> @Daniel, I went to www.kenyaimagine.com after seeing the link under
> your email signature and happened across this article, which I feel
> broadly underscores what we are trying to discuss here....it might be
> in the periphery but helps lead to the core:
>
>
> http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3189&catid=278:environmental-issues&Itemid=235
>
> If I may lift an excerpt:
>
> "In The Happiness Hypothesis , psychology professor Jonathan Haidt
> compares human brain/behavior to a man riding an elephant. There
> exists a complex choreography between our newer rational cortex (the
> 'man'), and our older, more primitive brain structures (the
> 'elephant').
>
> His point was that our brains can accomplish amazing things when we
> mesh our analytical abilities with our baser emotions and impulses,
> but that quite often the 'elephant' (our limbic and reptilian cores)
> unwittingly assert their dominance, and in the process override any
> rational, reasoned intentions. In aggregate we are a society that has
> become both habituated to and confused by 'more facts'. "
>
> and the closing part:
>
> "I would guess 30-40% of our population is cognizant that something is
> wrong with our current path. They don't need to know the details of
> net energy decline. They don't need to understand dispersive discovery
> or decline rates to know we are dependent on fossil fuels. They don't
> need to have read Murray Rothbard or Frederick Soddy to understand we
> can't print our way out of a physical bind. However, I suspect that
> though my Aunt knows <5% of what the average people on TOD do, it is
> people like her, one day, perhaps soon, that are going to force
> change. They will do it not out of some epiphany of of
> multidisciplinary understanding but rather out of outrage. "
>
> For the first excerpt, I'd like to think that in Africa we are more in
> touch with our primal selves - I am not saying that in a negative way
> but broadly meaning we are largely not westernised and sullied by
> western culture.  However, we can still adopt what works in order to
> adapt it to our realities.  But we must also hold the "elephant" in
> check - let it be both wild and tame - if that makes sense.
>
> For second excerpt - while the "intellectuals" out there may give
> reasons why x cannot be done, and make our aspirations collapse under
> a pile of facts, theories, isms and statistics (and eventually cause
> us to think little of ourselves and therefore become inferior), I
> think if we allow ourselves to return to a somewhat primal state (as
> alluded above re: the elephant)  we can rise to whatever challenge
> there is.  I know it calls for a little social re-engineering (esp
> when we read statements like "we can't", "we have never been know to",
> "its beyond our ability to..", etc).
>
> I should point out that I am not in any way deriding true
> intellectuals or ridiculing anyone.   Verily there are those on this
> list with very good visions of where Kenya can go (and are already
> putting us firmly on that path despite so many side shows and nay
> sayers).  But the word needs to get out there among the population.
>
> Good site BTW - I esp like the book reviews...
>
> F
>
> On 25 January 2012 23:43, Matunda Nyanchama
> <mnyanchama at aganoconsulting.com> wrote:
> > Friends
> >
> > Here are my off the cuff remarks on the provocative piece.
> >
> > My suggestion: let's not be too defensive; truth can be bitter.
> >
> > On innovation: take the example of the automobile and semiconductor
> > industries. A lot of countries started with fabricating parts; soon they
> did
> > sub-assemblies as their precision engineering developed and soon they
> were
> > making whole cars/computers/etc/. The Nyayo Car project was on the right
> > cause if only it has realized capacity in the fabrication of parts and
> > needed engineering and manufacturing processes.
> >
> > I recently saw news of a mechanic that used to service shock absorbers
> but
> > now fabricates them; and people find these last longer that original ones
> > not suited to our rough roads! He is on the right path and should, in
> fact,
> > be encouraged with incentives and (possibly) injection of capital.
> >
> > In the west, investors would be hovering around to offer the person
> either a
> > buyout or equity investment in order to expand the business which has
> huge
> > regional potential as few people are in the business. Where is old money
> > when it is needed here??
> > Regards.
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Matunda Nyanchama, PhD, CISSP; mnyanchama at aganoconsulting.com
> > Agano Consulting Inc.;  www.aganoconsulting.com; Twitter: nmatunda;
> Skype:
> > okiambe
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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> >
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> --
> Francis Hook
> +254 733 504561
>
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
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