[kictanet] Interesting Piece ...

Sat Jan 28 10:18:06 EAT 2012

I disagree with the notion that market forces should be relied on for
delivery of  goods and services whether social like healthcare and
education or commercial like stone crushers and milling machines.
Every 'developed' country's government gave massive support to its
industries and greatly assisted be it policy wise, seed capital or
actively looking for markets for the products. The industries in
Manchester and Birmingham in the UK nearly collapsed the Indian
textile cottage industry all because of the colonial push. This had to
be stopped and the same goes for china and Japan. They closed their
economies ,copied western tech, perfected it and now are leading
technologists. China with its billions feeds itself and  only imports
aw materials not finished goods. The industrial might just like in
Japan is government backed.

The US spends trillions on its military and I bet most of the cash
goes to R&D run by private American companies.

Letting the government off the hook is a bad move if there ever was one.

On 1/27/12, Daniel Waweru <daniel.waweru at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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>> > happen!
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>> >
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > "A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train
>> stops.
>> > On my desk I have a workstation…" - Anonymous
>> >
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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.
>>
>

-- 
Regards,

Mark Mwangi

markmwangi.me.ke