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Is Africa science-deficient?
Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,823 Location: Nairobi
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symbols wrote:masukuma wrote:symbols wrote:Pedes wrote:symbols wrote:masukuma wrote:I wonder why I never saw this thread before?
Anyway let me weigh in! there is nothing wrong with an African! nothing wrong at all! human beings have been on this planet for around 200k years. for a large number of them they were fighting the elements for a great majority of those years. what are we comparing? the 199,000 years that Europe has been subsisting and surviving vis a vis our 199,950 years? come on! in the grand scheme of things - its nothing! Nothing at all! Yet again, how much of what had been ‘invented’ by Africans prior to the white man’s coming do you know? Unlike what happened in india, what happened in east Africa trivialized everything that was African. To me – this must have been some form of a cruel Victorian experiment! The missionaries and settlers strove to create a black white man – completely eradicating all aspects of our existing culture. Apparently the Kikuyu had a form of writing known as Gichandi however it was lost when the European experiment worked. Many other groups must have lost aspects of their culture but it is not too late to recover these things. But that is another topic.
I personally love the sciences! A scientist in my own right but I understand the battles an african scientist faces. Do you want to do research or survive? Our CULTURE has evolved to be one that glorifies wealth! So what a typical scientist will do is this – he will get a good job and make lot’s of money! Everyone wants to live in the leafy green suburbs! It may be in an NGO or something like that. But it’s not wrong! When we compare ourselves with others we realize that we are a bit far behind (comparison is a good thing), we attempt to catch up! Do you reinvent a car or do you buy a second hand car for less than 5000 dollars? You buy the second hand car! How different is our case to that of the Australian aboriginal? How much of the praise that is being given to latin and south America is actually directed to the native cultures? Any Nobel prize winner from the American Indian community? It all has to do with CULTURE… I am proud to say that we will get there one day! It doesn’t have to be in your life time. Subsist so that another can have the luxury to do real research!  We lost something special when we disregarded the cultural importance of knowledge something our forefathers highly emphasized and going by the African proverbs thread they truly were wise. I have never had of Gichandi. Putting ideas, to paper is one of the ways of preserving knowledge. Africans werent good at that. We lost it when we let the colonialist define to us what we are and what we are supposed to do. He who defines you, confines you. We have an opportunity.We have a young population.We can try and nurture values that would serve us and our neighbours best. we should also get rid of these borders that were introduced 130 years ago! To what end? its not easy - borders were easier put than removed but we really have inviable countries on this continent All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/27/2012 Posts: 2,256 Location: Bandalungwa
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Our priorities are warped.
We spend a lot more money paying politicians and other civil servants than we do paying Scientists. So Scientists are either demotivated or leave the country.
Imagine a country where MPs, some of whom are barely literate make several times more than the best Doctors.
We dont invest in Science institutes. Instead we build monstrosities like the house built for the Vice President.
We dont incentivize investors like other countries do. Most technological breakthroughs happen due to direct government funding or through venture capital. For example, the internet was invented via direct US government funding of military activities.
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/26/2011 Posts: 759
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This is a very good topic for discussion.
Last week I sat through Dr Peter Ngure presentation on the work he is doing,in Daystar University, helping fight some very frightening
flies, the presentation included terrifying picture of people eaten by the said flies and at the end of the presentation he thank the donors for funding the supply of nets for the project.
After the presentation everyone indeed looked terrified, the kind of questions he got included: Cost of net questions($12) and the chemical sprays questions.
I wanted to ask a simple question but I didn't since I did not want to be the Kenyan questioning another Kenyan in a foreign country. My question was, why can't daystar University create the nets?
JKUAT..... I am sure when JKUAT was started, the intention was for it to product breakthroughs in Agri, is it doing that?
Having gone to college in a western country, I might be naive about the plight of our country but there is a fundamental problem when a country pays a doctor a salary of under kshs 100,000 and pays a MP a salary of over Kshs 1,000,000 and still get the support of over 50% of the population.
Africans scientists are as good as western scientists but there is absolutely no incentive to invest their time and energy on science because they still have to farm, own a kiosk and another real estate project in order to make a living so they lack specialization that western scientists have. African politics affects everything in Africa.
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/26/2011 Posts: 759
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[quote=Alba]Our priorities are warped.
We spend a lot more money paying politicians and other civil servants than we do paying Scientists. So Scientists are either demotivated or leave the country.
Imagine a country where MPs, some of whom are barely literate make several times more than the best Doctors.
We dont invest in Science institutes. Instead we build monstrosities like the house built for the Vice President.
We dont incentivize investors like other countries do. Most technological breakthroughs happen due to direct government funding or through venture capital. For example, the internet was invented via direct US government funding of military activities.
[/quote
I like the way you put it. Thanks
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,823 Location: Nairobi
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Alba wrote:Our priorities are warped.
We spend a lot more money paying politicians and other civil servants than we do paying Scientists. So Scientists are either demotivated or leave the country.
Imagine a country where MPs, some of whom are barely literate make several times more than the best Doctors.
We dont invest in Science institutes. Instead we build monstrosities like the house built for the Vice President.
We dont incentivize investors like other countries do. Most technological breakthroughs happen due to direct government funding or through venture capital. For example, the internet was invented via direct US government funding of military activities.
I agree with you - we need to set our priorities right (I kinda think that we 'climb the tree from the top' by paying our politicians the salaries that we do and labeling them 'waheshimiwa'). however!! i tend to see a 'uniformization' of the world coming to a place near you by virtue of the internet. the work of scientists now is no longer just beneficial to those that pay them - it may be with them for a few years (patents last between 14 and 20 years) but it will spread out. our youth will be much smarter based on information that they receive from sources their ancestors did not pay for. think about it! traditional silos of information will no longer be relevant. if we in africa can implement (without modifications) what we have freely available on the internet as solutions to our subsistence - we may in a generation or half start adding value to the body of knowledge and thus Brain drain in the current world is not exactly a big loss! some will do it faster than other yes (get the bragging rights) but if we can learn one thing from the east it should be - use all the information around you to make you prosper (some may call it IP infringement - but that is their problem) All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 12/27/2012 Posts: 2,256 Location: Bandalungwa
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@Masukuma
We cannot do it without funding. You need funding for even the most basic things. Lets say you come up with an invention. You will need to protect it via patent. To do that you need a patent lawyer. Those dont come cheap.
Heck even for that IP infringment you speak of, you still need money. Labs have to be available. Equipment must be there even if your goal is just reverse engineering.
China spends a lot of money incentivizing inventors. If you have an idea that might yield good returns, you can get free office or Lab from the government plus technical and legal assistance for a period of 6 months. These technical hubs are called incubators.
Instead of spending money on incubators, we are busy throwing money away. A few years ago a contractor was given Ksh 150 million to refurbish Eldoret stadium and install a running track. Now years later he has not done anything and cows graze on the stadium. Manzee Kenya is such a dysfunctional country. Me I just laugh. As naijas would say: I don laff tire.
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Rank: Member Joined: 9/30/2013 Posts: 659
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masukuma wrote:Alba wrote:Our priorities are warped.
We spend a lot more money paying politicians and other civil servants than we do paying Scientists. So Scientists are either demotivated or leave the country.
Imagine a country where MPs, some of whom are barely literate make several times more than the best Doctors.
We dont invest in Science institutes. Instead we build monstrosities like the house built for the Vice President.
We dont incentivize investors like other countries do. Most technological breakthroughs happen due to direct government funding or through venture capital. For example, the internet was invented via direct US government funding of military activities.
I agree with you - we need to set our priorities right (I kinda think that we 'climb the tree from the top' by paying our politicians the salaries that we do and labeling them 'waheshimiwa'). however!! i tend to see a 'uniformization' of the world coming to a place near you by virtue of the internet. the work of scientists now is no longer just beneficial to those that pay them - it may be with them for a few years (patents last between 14 and 20 years) but it will spread out. our youth will be much smarter based on information that they receive from sources their ancestors did not pay for. think about it! traditional silos of information will no longer be relevant. if we in africa can implement (without modifications) what we have freely available on the internet as solutions to our subsistence - we may in a generation or half start adding value to the body of knowledge and thus Brain drain in the current world is not exactly a big loss! some will do it faster than other yes (get the bragging rights) but if we can learn one thing from the east it should be - use all the information around you to make you prosper (some may call it IP infringement - but that is their problem) So, if the priorities are warped to the advantage of politicians, how do we set them right?We have tried through Serem...two steps forward three back... If you stay ready, no need to get ready.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 2/26/2012 Posts: 15,980
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Its tragic that our Universities are no longer institutions of research and development but polital institutions. The graduates copy and paste or pay someone to copy and paste newspaper articles as sources of reference of research. Chandaria has given several million $$ do institutions of higher learning and am yet to see any university channeling the funds to anything else apart from buildings. A look at the calibre of politicians we have will quickly tell you why we're messed up. We cant blame the mzungu for everything,he did what he did and left. The questions shoudl be what have we done to make our lives better? "There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/26/2011 Posts: 759
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masukuma wrote:Alba wrote:Our priorities are warped.
We spend a lot more money paying politicians and other civil servants than we do paying Scientists. So Scientists are either demotivated or leave the country.
Imagine a country where MPs, some of whom are barely literate make several times more than the best Doctors.
We dont invest in Science institutes. Instead we build monstrosities like the house built for the Vice President.
We dont incentivize investors like other countries do. Most technological breakthroughs happen due to direct government funding or through venture capital. For example, the internet was invented via direct US government funding of military activities.
I agree with you - we need to set our priorities right (I kinda think that we 'climb the tree from the top' by paying our politicians the salaries that we do and labeling them 'waheshimiwa'). however!! i tend to see a 'uniformization' of the world coming to a place near you by virtue of the internet. the work of scientists now is no longer just beneficial to those that pay them - it may be with them for a few years (patents last between 14 and 20 years) but it will spread out. our youth will be much smarter based on information that they receive from sources their ancestors did not pay for. think about it! traditional silos of information will no longer be relevant. if we in africa can implement (without modifications) what we have freely available on the internet as solutions to our subsistence - we may in a generation or half start adding value to the body of knowledge and thus Brain drain in the current world is not exactly a big loss! some will do it faster than other yes (get the bragging rights) but if we can learn one thing from the east it should be - use all the information around you to make you prosper (some may call it IP infringement - but that is their problem) But if you don't incentivize someone to go online and gather the available data/information, how do you expect people to do it?
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Rank: Member Joined: 4/26/2011 Posts: 759
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murchr wrote:Its tragic that our Universities are no longer institutions of research and development but polital institutions. The graduates copy and paste or pay someone to copy and paste newspaper articles as sources of reference of research. Chandaria has given several million $$ do institutions of higher learning and am yet to see any university channeling the funds to anything else apart from buildings.
A look at the calibre of politicians we have will quickly tell you why we're messed up. We cant blame the mzungu for everything,he did what he did and left. The questions shoudl be what have we done to make our lives better?
It's not the universities it's the government!
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