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India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

gatesnotes.com

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Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#31

Post by 6d6b73 »

Tharkun wrote: post #23
avar wrote: post #16

> Unfortunately, in many places, it’s not > feasible to lay down sewer pipes or build > treatment facilities. [...] But giving > people access to toilets isn’t enough. You > also have to persuade them to use the > toilets. I can't find it now, but there was a news video making the rounds a year or two ago that showed that this problem is much more fundamental than that. It showed a Indians in a tiny village who were…

I wonder how long it took for westerners to stop throwing their "night soil" out the window and start installing and using toilets. What always struck me as strange is that the Romans had and used public toilets, but afterwards Europe went back to shitting in a bucket and throwing it out the window. Puzzling.

Still, buckets and "out the window" are better than "everywhere"

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#32

Post by Neliquat »

noiv wrote: post #24

Request to de-weaponize the title. War should denote humans fighting humans only - not humans fighting physics.

Request to re-humanize humans.

Denotation should be for non humans only - we recodnise people.

Point: sure, language has meaning and we constantly abuse it a bit, but policing it tends to hurt more then help.

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#33

Post by elevenfist »

WillyOnWheels wrote: post #20
alpha_squared wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand what this is in reference to. Mind providing some more details? I'm genuinely curious.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gates-educat...

Hmm, it doesn't appear to be their intention to fuck up education though.

They tried to fund smaller classes but it ended up not improving performance and made schools more costly over the long term, (crappy instructors/hiring policies were likely the root cause of the failure, and then those new small schools didn't provide a good ror on the money invested vs other projects)

So then they tried to improve teacher quality with bonus schemes, but their implementation made the problem worse (who decides who gets the bonus? What happens when the majority are mediocre bad actors?).

Then they backed common core which was rolled out quickly for fear that teachers, schools, and parents would water it down. And there was a vehement backlash.

It looks like they just keep fucking up on the little details, which naturally is going to fuck up initiatives that could've worked.

They need better employees and a ceo :/

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#34

Post by victor106 »

nojvek wrote: post #4

Two of the most forward thinking folks I believe are Bill Gates and Elon Musk. While Elon wants to carve way into science fiction, Bill wants to ensure no one gets left behind. Exciting time to be alive. In this case big kudos goes to Narendra Modi and the Indian govt to ensure this happens. I believe such fundamental things are the most effective when govt pushes for it rather than individuals.

Who is Narendra Modi?

Edit:- read the article.thanks...

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#36

Post by bboreham »

Tharkun wrote: post #23
avar wrote: post #16

> Unfortunately, in many places, it’s not > feasible to lay down sewer pipes or build > treatment facilities. [...] But giving > people access to toilets isn’t enough. You > also have to persuade them to use the > toilets. I can't find it now, but there was a news video making the rounds a year or two ago that showed that this problem is much more fundamental than that. It showed a Indians in a tiny village who were…

I wonder how long it took for westerners to stop throwing their "night soil" out the window and start installing and using toilets. What always struck me as strange is that the Romans had and used public toilets, but afterwards Europe went back to shitting in a bucket and throwing it out the window. Puzzling.

This is one of the famous cases, in 1854: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_ou...

See Edward Tufte's take on it too http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/tufte_snow.html

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#37

Post by WillyOnWheels »

elevenfist wrote: post #33
WillyOnWheels wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-gates-educat...

Hmm, it doesn't appear to be their intention to fuck up education though. They tried to fund smaller classes but it ended up not improving performance and made schools more costly over the long term, (crappy instructors/hiring policies were likely the root cause of the failure, and then those new small schools didn't provide a good ror on the money invested vs other projects) So then they tried to improve teacher qua…

> Hmm, it doesn't appear to be their intention to fuck up education though.

I agree the Gates Foundation does not intend to screw up public education.

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#39

Post by myko »

victor106 wrote: post #34
nojvek wrote: post #4

Two of the most forward thinking folks I believe are Bill Gates and Elon Musk. While Elon wants to carve way into science fiction, Bill wants to ensure no one gets left behind. Exciting time to be alive. In this case big kudos goes to Narendra Modi and the Indian govt to ensure this happens. I believe such fundamental things are the most effective when govt pushes for it rather than individuals.

Who is Narendra Modi? Edit:- read the article.thanks...

India's Prime Minister

Re: India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste

#40

Post by staticassertion »

avar wrote: post #16

> Unfortunately, in many places, it’s not > feasible to lay down sewer pipes or build > treatment facilities. [...] But giving > people access to toilets isn’t enough. You > also have to persuade them to use the > toilets. I can't find it now, but there was a news video making the rounds a year or two ago that showed that this problem is much more fundamental than that. It showed a Indians in a tiny village who were…

The first or second chapter of Diffusion of Innovation covers a case where a health organization official tried to convince people to boil their water. No one did it. The concept of "germs" was so foreign to them, and their beliefs about water were already so ingrained. It was a complete failure.

It seems obvious to say "if you drink dirty water you will get sick" but you're assuming that people can make so many connections - what makes it dirty? What makes you sick? What is illness?

In many places there is no connection between 'germs' and illness because germs are not a concrete concept to them.

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