Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

itv.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 115 posts

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#91

Post by GuyCall »

laglad wrote: post #29
PakG1 wrote: post #15

I don't claim to understand African issues very well, so take my comments with the grain of salt that I'm very ignorant. The civil wars that happen in certain African nations are troubling. But what was more troubling to me was reading news how factions would take control by poisoning wells that provided water for citizens. It was unthinkable to me that someone could actually do that, especially in certain areas wher…

I speak as an African (Nigerian). As humans, we plan into the future. However, our planning timeframes are limited by how far into the future we can imagine. Further, our ability to imagine the future depends on how likely we believe that future to be. In the West where life is safe and prosperous, planning/imagining 20-30 years out is reasonable. In all likelihood, you will live that long. However, in war-torn Afric…

This is a great observation about how critically important the expectation of long-term safety is. Take a rich developed country and reduce that expectation from decades down to years and watch the economy collapse. Those guarantees of safety allow a huge amount of wealth to be created. People can invest huge amounts of capital into projects with very long and beneficial payoffs

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#92

Post by Ras_ »

laglad wrote: post #29
PakG1 wrote: post #15

I don't claim to understand African issues very well, so take my comments with the grain of salt that I'm very ignorant. The civil wars that happen in certain African nations are troubling. But what was more troubling to me was reading news how factions would take control by poisoning wells that provided water for citizens. It was unthinkable to me that someone could actually do that, especially in certain areas wher…

I speak as an African (Nigerian). As humans, we plan into the future. However, our planning timeframes are limited by how far into the future we can imagine. Further, our ability to imagine the future depends on how likely we believe that future to be. In the West where life is safe and prosperous, planning/imagining 20-30 years out is reasonable. In all likelihood, you will live that long. However, in war-torn Afric…

This was also an underlying factor when I tried to find why Russian tourists used to spend crazy amounts of money right across the EU border. Few of them told that looking back, it's possible that things might not last, so you mind as well use what you have now. When your planning perspective isn't long, you make different choices.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#93

Post by Amadou »

chrischen wrote: post #76
Joe-Z wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really shouldn't be getting into this, but whatever: Let's assume that you believe that "all men are born equal" and you know for yourself that you are not a war-mongering, savaging monster and that this are also not typical traits for other people around you. Then, from your believe that "alle men are born equal" it's just far more likely that people in africa would default to a similar, peaceful, state like you a…

First of all, pointing out something that's "negative" is not necessarily racism. "Negative" is also subjective. For example: Japanese people are short. In the West (and actually most of the world), people would find it a negative statement. If it is negative (that somehow being short is bad), stating this fact is not racism. This is not to mention the fact that it's subjective whether being short is negative or not.…

If you watch Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert often parodies this fallacious political correctness by claiming he is "color blind" and everyone has the same skin color to him.

You have profoundly misunderstood why Colbert does that bit. He's parodying racists who say they are colorblind in order to ignore white privilege. Racial colorblindness is the modern version of, "I'm not racist, I have a black friend." The bit is commentary on structural racism in society.

If you don't believe that is Colbert's point, consider that Colbert's character is a parody of bombastic conservative talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and O'Rielly. Whenever he does something obviously funny he's parodying conservative stereotypes not well-meaning but superficial liberal hippie types, and racism is a major conservative stereotype.

Here is an examination of how racial colorblindness affects racial minorities: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/colorblind/201112/colorb...

And here is some discussion of the principles via wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race-blind#Criticism_of_color_...

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#94

Post by w_t_payne »

Widdershin wrote: post #50
rewind wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Life has soured my outlook on life. The comments on HN merely reflect this.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#95

Post by w_t_payne »

PakG1 wrote: post #15

I don't claim to understand African issues very well, so take my comments with the grain of salt that I'm very ignorant. The civil wars that happen in certain African nations are troubling. But what was more troubling to me was reading news how factions would take control by poisoning wells that provided water for citizens. It was unthinkable to me that someone could actually do that, especially in certain areas wher…

Let's stop thinking about Africa as a single entity, for a start. Even within one country, (Kenya), we can see immense variability in culture, economic and political function etc... For example, Nairobi feels (culturally) closer to NYC than it does to Mombasa. Whilst there is undeniably an immense quantity of grinding, debilitating poverty; there is also great wealth, and a good number of very smart people who are not only doing very well, but also helping to build a good future for the country.

One should not overlook the crazy bureaucracy and inefficiency of course, but equally, one should not have a uniformly negative view ... we still need to operate, and to get things done.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#96

Post by JulienSchmidt »

riffraff wrote: post #70
icoder wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was exactly my thought after having seen a documentary about how Nestle does business

which documentary? I'm always on the lookout for good documntaries.

http://www.bottledlifefilm.com/index.php/the-film.html

If you speak German, you can find a great free documentary here: http://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/45_min/videos/minuten8...

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#97

Post by ekm2 »

I am amused by the comments on this post and even the story itself.Kenya's primary problem is not a lack of water.Around 70 percent of the land is rich with multiple rivers,which is why it is one of the leading producers of Tea and Coffee.Only some parts of Northern Kenya,around Lodwar have dry spells .Western Kenya has the opposite problem:flash floods that usually occur around April and March.

Corruption and poor management of resources are the major headaches facing the country,not droughts.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#98

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

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 /…

Hey man, you need to clean your mind, seriously.

I had only been in 5 or 6 countries in Africa, I want to visit way more. I had seen lots of good from foreign people (some of them giving their lives to others expecting nothing in return) so your comment is almost an insult.

Don't read books, don't listen to other cynics like you. Go see yourself, go to Africa.

You will discover and learn lots of things. In Africa there are things that don't work, but there are things that do. Most Americans have no friends, in Africa communities are very important.

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#99

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Widdershin wrote: post #50
rewind wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You should try the Youtube comments, that'll drastically sour your faith in humanity. :p

Re: Huge water reserve discovered in Kenya

#100

Post by Jare »

eloff wrote: post #26
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…

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.)

First world countries have an equally long history of the same hatred, fear, discrimination and constant warfare. In general terms, it only lessened when a large proportion of the population could move out of poverty and feel reasonably secure about their future.

You don't have to look far to see how easy it is to revert to barbaric and uncivilized behaviour and standards when that sense of safety and security is put at risk.

Post reply on HN