Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Africa and its Issues- Why Have We Ignored Africa? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (620)	10/17/2006 11:21:59 AM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1267

The length of the base is the point. You could set a base of 2.5 million years (roughly the beginning of the homo genus), or maybe more like 1.8 million (homo erectus) or maybe 200,000 years (beginning of homo sapiens), or maybe something more like 10,000 to 25,000 years (neolithic revolution). (I could even try to say that this is on topic, as these species probably evolved in Africa <g>) But the message shouldn't get lost in the details. The larger point that the vast majority of human economic development has happened in a tiny fraction of our existence is true and interesting. Some people project the growth, and the growing rate of economic growth, growth in computing power etc. forward and see increasing "accelerated change" even a "technological singularity". I'm sure your familiar with both concepts. I'm skeptical about at lest the more extreme versions of these ideas. I have a fair degree of doubt that in my lifetime computers will develop the intelligence of whole large modern civilizations (and then scale up rapidly from there) or that human mortality (except perhaps from accidents) will be conquered and that I might still be around thousands of years from now. Bringing this back on topic, to the extent that we have acceleration of change, large parts of Africa seem to be left behind, because of things like war, corruption, socialism, etc.