Comments on: Will Technology Support Global Growth? by Dambisa Moyo

By: Website design

Website design — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 12:24:19 +0000

While doing the work not leaving the rest of the World so far behind when it comes to infrastructure, but planning on a clean green infrastructure and industrialization that may give our children a place where they may also take refuge of their time of difficulties. Reply.

By: Hans Stoisser

Hans Stoisser — Fri, 29 May 2015 10:39:46 +0000

Thank you. Two comments:
1.
Good question: Are African countries with their young population more vulnerable to the annihilation of jobs through ongoing digitalization?
I am not so sure. Western countries have built up sophisticated social-welfare and pension schemes relying on traditional jobs. A complete system change will be much more difficult to be done than in “lean” countries (Dayo Olopade) with less institutionalized vested interests and higher growth rates.
On individual level, I unemployed 40y or 50y old people are not better off than young ones. The younger the higher the capacity to adapt to new technologies. Additionally, a much bigger informal sector in lean countries helps a lot. (Ironically, in Europe we are trying to crush the informal sector completely!)
2.
I doubt that public policy alone has the capacity to anticipate the technological transformation to the extent that “smart regulations” will bring benefits to the broader public. I rather think we need multiple starting points. One important one seems to me the “operating system” of organizations, specifically in the private sector. I see a huge “lever” in that, as I have pointed out a couple of days ago here in my blogpost A quest for a Europeans humanistic management movement.

By: Kariuki Kiragu

Kariuki Kiragu — Wed, 27 May 2015 07:08:39 +0000

Thank you for this.
Your holistic approach too these issues is so refreshing and somewhat vindicating to me.

Sure, technology, if adapted to our African civilization, will certainly accelerate sustainable development and change lifestyles. Currently, I work 200 meters from my house in Nairobi and my 2 employees all live within 500 meters from the office. This saves us 5 hours each in commuting, enables extension of working hours to meet deadlines and, very importantly, our children come in and out of the office and we are fully aware of what is happening in our homes.
On the threat of automation-driven unemployment, even of the unskilled, my observations, current and future, are more hopeful.

I remember Kenyan Pres. Moi on the early 90’s, who, fearing that word processors would cause unemployment among typists, went about banning them. The move was overtaken by events and, in retrospect, I have yet to hear of a secretary or typist retrenched on that account… instead, they all upgraded into office assistants, documentation specialists and so on. That jolt kicked others further up, acquiring business administration degrees on and off-line. The more laid-back ones simply oozed into the information age along with everyone else. Secretarial colleges transformed into computer colleges, mainly MS Office and auxiliaries such as Sage and AutoCAD. Even my Mum, a retired primary school teacher who turns 80 next year, sends texts messages to her children on 3 continents.

Though the mechanisms of the typists-office assistant metamorphosis are not clear, it seems that the erosion of low-tech jobs would be more than compensated by news created by online activities such as transactions and communications which have the ability to avail the rarer skills to a wider consumer base.
On Bomakazi, a self-replicating agro-based shelter program on the design table for the past 2 years, despite limiting the bottom wage to US $ 15 daily, 16 m self-servicing mortgage homesteads and 47 m sustainable, upgradeable jobs will still be created in Kenya in 40 years. It gets to the point where job creation is higher than available labor and, with spill-over into the rest of Africa, labor import options dim.
Therefore, the low-tech jobs become a burden on society and automation is required to, say, pick ripe tomatoes of groom organic milk goats in a domestic setting.

The scenario is still unfolding, so let’s shepherd it and see what happens in Africa.

By: osama

osama — Wed, 27 May 2015 05:11:01 +0000

Hello!! Dr. Dambisa , Definitely you’re right about all this, almost all Asians countries benefited from the breakthrough of tech in any other nations for developing their counties, by installing industrials manufactures to speed up growth to their people also fixing their infrastructures. African countries are not benefited from the tech as much at all, comparatives to other nations. We still never build a roads, dams or small mechanical agriculture since Adam and Eve, only in a few spots. We should follow Asian style that’s the only way Africa will develop 1st stop wars, work in the infrastructures definitely and automatically we will see growth across Africa and spread culture of integrated economy between states with in Africa. I don’t think tech help us much as long we don’t know how to use well.
Thanks

By: David S. Emel

David S. Emel — Wed, 27 May 2015 04:57:22 +0000

Dr. Dambisa Moyo, Precisely. There is no motivation in the stock ownership class to create even distribution of resources. To compound the issue, googol-illions of resources are being squandered at a time when an intelligent specie would be conserving petro-equity. At least we will make for an interesting layer of rocks even if we can not muster the courage to name it until after we are gone… The Anthropocene!

By: Ahmad Mukhtar Umar

Ahmad Mukhtar Umar — Tue, 26 May 2015 15:47:18 +0000

I’m nigerian whose role model is Dambisa Moyo..

By: Joël Boweya

Joël Boweya — Tue, 26 May 2015 15:33:01 +0000

Governing implies planning and this article really reminds the leaders in the rest of the world to clearly envision the future for their nationals!

And world leaders also need to keep some island of refuge in case of total destruction or disaffection of most the lands in the Western World.
While doing it not leaving the rest of the World so far behind in terms of infrastructure, but thinking about a clean green infrastructure and industrialization that will give our children a place where they also can take refuge in their time of trouble.