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Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

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Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#41

Post by [deleted] »

chad_oliver wrote: post #32
eloff wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't explain away centuries (millenia in some cases) of tribalism, with hatred and fear and discrimination passed from parents to children for generations as mere poverty. Poverty plays a role to be sure, but the situation is more complex (it always is.)

Sorry, I did not mean to discount the impact of tribalism. It is certainly a significant issue in East Africa (I can't speak for other areas). The history of the USA shows that even affluent western countries suffer from the Us vs Them mindset. That said, I do believe that poverty is the more significant issue. Increased development generally correlates with stronger government [1], and with better access to governme…

[deleted]

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#42

Post by nikatwork »

0X1A wrote: post #10
rabino wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully people will, you know, stop dying and we hackers can go back to do real relevant things like instagram clones and settle once and for all which one is the better Lisp.

Cmon, you can't really expect an audience base that is probably mostly introverted and cynical to actually find joy in reading about a positive find in a third world country could you? In all seriousness though, I think this can be well developed if it isn't exploited by privatization. Since, ya know, most things that would be greatly beneficial to developing countries usually are.

> I think this can be well developed if it isn't exploited by privatization.

Careful, you'll wake the Randroids.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#43

Post by JabavuAdams »

rewind wrote: post #38
JabavuAdams wrote: post #36

Fantastic! Let's concoct some overly optimistic growth statistics for how this will stimulate the Kenyan economy. Let's say 19% for the first 10 years, then 15% for 10 more, then 12% for the next five. Based on those fudged figures, we'll convince the government to take on excessive debt to pay for water development, etc. projects. Since the figures are fudged, and since we'll do this hand in hand with local elites /…

The positivity on HN lately is almost too much to handle.

We should be positive. We're the ones who end up on Elysium. Also, the new iPhone is really cool.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#44

Post by memset »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #36

Fantastic! Let's concoct some overly optimistic growth statistics for how this will stimulate the Kenyan economy. Let's say 19% for the first 10 years, then 15% for 10 more, then 12% for the next five. Based on those fudged figures, we'll convince the government to take on excessive debt to pay for water development, etc. projects. Since the figures are fudged, and since we'll do this hand in hand with local elites /…

What is your comment trying to say?

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#45

Post by rewind »

JabavuAdams wrote: post #43
rewind wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The positivity on HN lately is almost too much to handle.

We should be positive. We're the ones who end up on Elysium. Also, the new iPhone is really cool.

Plastic is the new aluminum (although I really like the 5c, actually, though the case is an abomination).

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#46

Post by anotheraccount7 »

chad_oliver wrote: post #40
chrischen wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Africans aren't more corrupt or warlike than anyone else How do you know? My history teacher never hesitated to teach us how Prussia was good at war, and how France sucked at war. Edit: this is an honest question. If I said anything wrong, please let me know as well.

Africans at the moment are, as a group, the most corrupt people on earth [1]. This is equivalent to saying that Prussians were better than the French at making war. However, this different from saying that Africans are inherently corrupt, or that every Frenchman is destined to make a terrible soldier. I intended to assert that Africans aren't inherently corrupt, and I think you were downvoted because people thought y…

I guess it would matter what you mean by "inherently corrupt". physiologically? very unlikely - but it could definitely be a cultural issue

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#47

Post by chrischen »

anotheraccount7 wrote: post #46
chad_oliver wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Africans at the moment are, as a group, the most corrupt people on earth [1]. This is equivalent to saying that Prussians were better than the French at making war. However, this different from saying that Africans are inherently corrupt, or that every Frenchman is destined to make a terrible soldier. I intended to assert that Africans aren't inherently corrupt, and I think you were downvoted because people thought y…

I guess it would matter what you mean by "inherently corrupt". physiologically? very unlikely - but it could definitely be a cultural issue

Yes, you'd have to define inherently corrupt. Since it could be genetic, cultural, situational... etc.

And even then, you can't really jump to the conclusion that we are all the same.

Being corrupt or warlike are, in my opinions, just traits. They could be evolutionary adaptations to various environmental situations, for all anyone knows. Everyone on Earth is different, with different traits... Africans included. I'm not saying that's what Africans are, but I'm also saying you can't make the claim that those aren't inherent traits. It's a total possibility and nothing should be left out for scientific and reasonable analysis.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#48

Post by smtddr »

chrischen wrote: post #27
chad_oliver wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You raise some important issues, but if anything I actually think that this aquifer is going to reduce the conflict in this area. The civil wars, rape, and poisoning are all symptoms of a deeper illness: poverty. Africans aren't more corrupt or warlike than anyone else, they're just poorer and therefore more desperate. Conflict minerals (diamonds, coltan, etc) fuel conflict because they are easy to control. It only t…

> Africans aren't more corrupt or warlike than anyone else How do you know? My history teacher never hesitated to teach us how Prussia was good at war, and how France sucked at war. Edit: this is an honest question. If I said anything wrong, please let me know as well.

As a person from a Nigerian family, I'm already offended... but... let me try and answer you.

1) It's one thing to say something about a country(France & Prussia), it's another thing to talk about a race(Africans). Take a look at Youtube's attempt at defining hate-speech in their guidelines:

""Hate speech" refers to content that promotes hatred against members of a protected group. For instance, racist or sexist content may be considered hate speech. Sometimes there is a fine line between what is and what is not considered hate speech. For instance, it is generally okay to criticize a nation, but not okay to make insulting generalizations about people of a particular nationality. "

(Note that I think Google should remove the "protected group" part and just say "any group of people")

2) How far down this endless rabbit-hole are we going to go? I can't prove to you the nature of any group of people, anymore than you can prove to me that you're not just another racist/troll that always shows up during conversations about Africa or African-Americans on Google+, on Reddit, on HN or any other site that always ends up derailing the main topic into oblivion.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#49

Post by JabavuAdams »

memset wrote: post #44
JabavuAdams wrote: post #36

Fantastic! Let's concoct some overly optimistic growth statistics for how this will stimulate the Kenyan economy. Let's say 19% for the first 10 years, then 15% for 10 more, then 12% for the next five. Based on those fudged figures, we'll convince the government to take on excessive debt to pay for water development, etc. projects. Since the figures are fudged, and since we'll do this hand in hand with local elites /…

What is your comment trying to say?

Let's hope this isn't business as usual?

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#50

Post by Widdershin »

rewind wrote: post #38
JabavuAdams wrote: post #36

Fantastic! Let's concoct some overly optimistic growth statistics for how this will stimulate the Kenyan economy. Let's say 19% for the first 10 years, then 15% for 10 more, then 12% for the next five. Based on those fudged figures, we'll convince the government to take on excessive debt to pay for water development, etc. projects. Since the figures are fudged, and since we'll do this hand in hand with local elites /…

The positivity on HN lately is almost too much to handle.

I'm starting to worry that reading Hacker News comments is going to drastically sour my outlook in life over time.
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