Africa: 50 Years After

After 50 + years of independence, and despite glowing reports by "international development specialists", most of SubSaharan Africa exists in a state of perpetual tragedy. Africa is only a tragedy in comparison with most of the rest of the world, of course. If more advanced parts of the human world did not exist, Africa would be a shining example of human progress and achievement.

Here is a look at the reality of urbanisation in Africa:

Although the central districts of many of Africa’s major cities now boast numerous skyscrapers of cement, glass and steel, and are host to great night life with vibrant bars and night clubs, these are transposed on unplanned, chaotic settlements built of wood, corrugated metal sheeting, mud bricks and whatever other materials may be at hand, with dirt roads and open sewer ditches.

This scenario is further complicated by other ills such as lack of piped water, unsafe sanitation, near absence of refuse collection, unstable electricity supply, poor housing, striking inequalities in wealth, absence of recreation parks and green landscapes, heavy traffic jams, and pervasive poverty, all of which have negative impacts on the quality of life and working environment in many African cities and towns.

These problems are compounded by corrupt and inefficient local government institutions and governance issues that hinder effective urban management as the lack of capacity and weakness in the municipalities result in critical problems such as unfocussed planning, weak resource mobilisation, and creation of slum conditions as “nobody is taking charge, and nobody is providing guidance”.

As of 2007, Africa housed an estimated 250 million people in urban slums, which are reduced to wastelands of overcrowding, poverty and social exclusion, and labelled by governments as illegal informal settlements that do not deserve provision of services.

In most African large cities, these informal settlements provide domicile to 40 and 70 percent of urban dwellers, especially those who work in the informal sector of employment.

Further, the African continent sits with an insurmountable level of unemployment as high as an average of 8.5 percent but going to 40 and 95 percent in some countries.

Forty percent of the people work in the informal sector of unemployment, which accounts for an extraordinary 78 percent of non-agricultural employment, 61 percent of urban employment, and 93 percent of all new jobs.

The documented growth in Africa has been driven mainly by services and capital-intensive extractive sectors, with the result that it has been growth without jobs and without reduction in poverty levels.

The formal economic sector (excluding government) has been incapable of creating sufficient jobs for urban populations, partly due to rapid influx of people, but mainly due to poorly managed urban development and weakened national economies.

It is reported to account for barely 10 percent of the total employment on the continent. _Africa 50 Years Later

Clearly the "African miracle" of growth and urbanisation looks somewhat different without the rose coloured glasses of international development "experts."

The IMF has just cut estimates for the near term economic growth of Sub-Saharan Africa, and there is little reason to hope for the long term. In terms of the reality of the ordinary African, the IMF's predictions have very little impact. Growth in Africa, when it occurs, rarely trickles down to the street level.

The reasons why African nations perpetually sit at the bottom rank of nations in terms of virtually all measures of development, achievement, and quality of life, could be debated over an indefinite period of time.

A lot of things could be done in terms of nutrition, public health, medical care, education, housing, and access to clean water, electricity, and advanced telecommunications. But almost as soon as an African achieves higher education, he is likely to emigrate to the western world, to escape the political caprice and instability of Africa.

Perhaps Africa should not be compared to the outside world. But you can be sure that Africans themselves will do so, and whenever possible, they will vote with their feet.

Africa Is Not Like Most of the Rest of the World

SubSaharan Africa is different from the rest of the world. Its countries tend to be poorer, more violent, with more disease, less educated and less literate, and much more prolific in terms of birth rates and population growth.

NYT Lagos, Nigeria

Last October, the United Nations announced the global population had breached seven billion and would expand rapidly for decades, taxing natural resources if countries cannot better manage the growth.

Nearly all of the increase is in sub-Saharan Africa, where the population rise far outstrips economic expansion. Of the roughly 20 countries where women average more than five children, almost all are in the region.

Elsewhere in the developing world, in Asia and Latin America, fertility rates have fallen sharply in recent generations and now resemble those in the United States — just above two children per woman. That transformation was driven in each country by a mix of educational and employment opportunities for women, access to contraception, urbanization and an evolving middle class. _NYT

“The pace of growth in Africa is unlike anything else ever in history and a critical problem,” said Joel E. Cohen, a professor of population at Rockefeller University in New York City. “What is effective in the context of these countries may not be what worked in Latin America or Kerala or Bangladesh.” _NYT

Nigeria, like many sub-Saharan African countries, has experienced a slight decline in average fertility rates, to about 5.5 last year from 6.8 in 1975. But this level of fertility, combined with an extremely young population, still puts such countries on a steep and disastrous growth curve. Half of Nigerian women are under 19, just entering their peak childbearing years...

Statistics are stunning. Sub-Saharan Africa, which now accounts for 12 percent of the world’s population, will account for more than a third by 2100, by many projections. _NYT

...contraceptive use is rising only a fraction of a percent annually — in many sub-Saharan African nations, it is under 20 percent — and, in surveys, even well-educated women in the region often want four to six children.

“At this pace it will take 100-plus years to arrive at a point where fertility is controlled,” Dr. Guengant said. _NYT

That evening at the clinic, Bola Agboola, 30, gave birth to her second child. After nurses swaddled the boy, dispensed with the placenta and declared Ms. Agboola well, they whooped, praising God.

Then, as Ms. Agboola’s husband entered, some started another chant: “Now start another one. Start another one.” _NYT

Across the developed world from Japan to South Korea to Spain to Italy, birthrates have plummeted. Instead of 6 children per woman, in many of the most advanced nations of the world, average birthrates have fallen perilously close to only 1 child per woman.

In such countries, it is easy to understand Robert Zubrin's warning against the lefty-green zealots of the overpopulation brigade. Most of the technological and scientific advances that propel us into the future are brought about by persons at the upper end of the IQ curve -- somewhere above 120 in general. The most advanced science is usually pushed forward by persons with IQ's near or above 130.

What Happened to Africa?
It is easy to think that either overpopulation or underpopulation is the greatest danger to humanity. But the truth is more complex and nuanced.

Not all populations of humans achieve the same results, in terms of the societies that they build, and the future ambitions which they are capable of achieving.

In most populations of the Earth, the educating of women, and the achievement of good public health and the meeting of basic needs, is enough to bring birthrates close to equilibrium. But for various reasons, some populations of the planet may resist achieving such a balance.

Some of the maps above contain enough information to tell you what is being compared. For others, you may need to guess between "national GDP", proportion of persons living on less than $1 a day, etc. But by simply skimming over the maps, one can easily see that SubSaharan Africa is not like most of the rest of the world.

If the rest of the world does not wish to become like subSaharan Africa, it may need to devote some thought to the problem. Compassion and basic humanity are generally the best guidelines for such thinking.

h/t NBF

IQ Research: Limited Lasting Benefit from Early Childhood Intervention

Approximate Average IQs by Nation / Region
It is generally felt among IQ researchers that the heritability of IQ is somewhat lower in children from families of low socioeconomic (SES) status. If true, the possibility for raising IQ through early childhood intervention provides hope for narrowing IQ gaps between groups that statistically tend to populate different SES strata.

A recent UK IQ study by SES, of 8716 twin pairs, suggests that we should view earlier research on this topic critically -- particularly if it was performed with fewer than 5,000 twin pairs.

If heritability is lower in lower-SES families, it suggests that environmental interventions might be more effective in boosting cognitive development for children in lower-SES families. The present study, which is based on a large UK-representative sample of children followed longitudinally, leads to a similar implication. Although the genetic influence on IQ is the same in lower-SES families, shared environmental influence appears to be greater in lower-SES families, suggesting that family-based environmental interventions might be more effective in these families. However, two further aspects of the results temper the policy implications of this finding. First, shared environmental influence is found in both lower- and higher-SES families and the difference in shared environmental influence between them is modest. Second, shared environmental influences on IQ decline from childhood to adulthood so that these influences might not have an impact in the long run. _PLoS: SES and Children's IQ

The above study when combined with an earlier study by some of the same authors, looking for the quantitative effect of specific genes on IQ, suggests that we should not expect to develop any magical intervention for permanently raising IQ in the near future -- from either environmental or genetic interventions.

This is bad news for groups which occupy the low rung of the SES ladder -- either as sub-populations within a particular country, or as low ranking countries within the community of nations, eg sub-Saharan African countries.

Hope springs eternal, however. Here is a look at the prospects for development in sub-Saharan Africa from an Indian perspective:

Samir Brahmachari, Director General of India's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, knows that intellectually, Africa is a goldmine. "Of every thousand Africans, one has an IQ of 140" he says. That sort of brilliance can't be put down, all it needs is a push in the right direction.

But he also knows India is in the best position to help. "I was part of the team that first mapped the Indian genome", he says. "And we found that among all the ethnic groups of the world, Indians have the maximum number of genes similar to Africans". _ibnlive.in

Is it true that one out of 1,000 sub-Saharan Africans has an IQ of 140? Let's try to find out.

Below you will find a Z score probability calculator which will let you test this assertion for yourself. Set the calculator to compute the area under the "right" tail (rather than the default setting of "left"). Now you will need to enter a "Z" score -- what should you enter? The Z score is simply the number of standard deviations from the mean for which you are seeking a probability. So we want to know what the mean IQ of sub-Saharan Africans is, so that we can calculate how many standard deviations from the mean the score of "140" happens to be.

The most likely IQ mean for SS Africa is 75 points, which is 65 points away from 140. Dividing 65 by a standard deviation of 15 gives a Z score of 4.333... But the calculator does not allow you to enter a value higher than 4, so enter 4 as the Z value. The result for the area (probability) of the curve at or above approx. 140, is given as 0.000032.

Is a probability of 0.000032 the same as 1 in 1,000? No, 1 in 1,000 would correspond to a probability of 0.001. The actual likelihood of finding a sub-Saharan African at random with an IQ at or above 140, is about 3 in 100,000. Not exactly the "gold mine" which the CSIR's Brahmachari claims -- more like tin.

What if Brahmachari was referring to North Africans, with an average IQ of 85? That would put a score of 140 about 55 points from the mean of 85, giving us a Z score of 3.666... If we enter a Z score of 3.67 in the box, we obtain an area of 0.000121, or a probability of about 0.0001. Is that 1 in 1000? No, it is about 1 in 10,000. Still not a gold mine, but perhaps copper.

For Brahmachari's assertion to be true, he would have to be referring to a population with a mean IQ of about 95 -- where a score of 140 would have a Z value just above 3. That is very close to the mean IQ of the United States or Russia, and considerably above the mean IQ of any part of Africa -- or even India. I wonder what Brahmachari was thinking? Does the CSIR have secret plans to colonise Russia or the US?

By zscorecalculator.com

The average population IQ of a nation leads to important consequences in terms of national GDP, and national competitiveness. The map at the top of this entry suggests one reason why some nations have better economic prospects than others.

Unfortunately, it looks as if will be a matter of decades, at least, before science can do anything to change that picture.

Africa's Amazing Rise

A spate of articles in the popular media has attempted to paint an image of Africa as a resurgent continent in the middle of a great economic and cultural ascendancy. While such imaginative viewpoints may fit the modern mood of political correctness, they risk the inducing of complacency in the persons who might otherwise want to help develop solutions for the rapidly worsening plight of sub-Saharan Africans.

Here is an excerpt from a recent article about the "Africa's Amazing Rise."

The conversation about development, still too often mired in outmoded discussions of African poverty and stagnation, must catch up to the realities on the ground. A decade ago, development experts lectured African governments on the importance of crafting pro-poor policies. Now the question increasingly asked is how Africans can share their wealth more equitably. _Atlantic

These African Panglossians make a number of fundamental errors in thinking and argument when attempting to portray the dark continent as a veritable up and coming Garden of Eden.

First, they fail to distinguish between Muslim North Africa, and black sub-Saharan Africa.

Next, they focus on growth numbers such as per cent growth in GDP, without noting that "high" GDP growth numbers mean very little when one is starting from virtually nothing.

In addition, they look at growth industries such as "cell phones" as an example of the increasing vitalisation of the area. While cell phones may help facilitate genuine economic enterprise, they may also be used for a large number of non-economic and often decadent purposes.

Moreover, these cheerleader pieces of pseudo-journalism fail to confront the horrendous and worsening problems which SS AFrica faces. Dictatorships, overpopulation, bloody tribal war, religious wars, over-dependency on natural resources, neo-colonisation by China, tropical disease, HIV, collapse of family structure, premature urbanisation into crumbling cities of perpetual decay... and so on.

One would do far better in understanding the future of sub-Saharan Africa by reading The Coming Anarchy.

Wishful thinking -- even politically correct wishful thinking -- will not make a silk purse of a sow's ear. Anyone who still cares about Africa, beyond its vast resource wealth, will want to confront the reality of Africa, rather than the fantasy.

First published on abu al-fin

Is There a Cure for African Backwardness?

SubSaharan Africa is historically the most backward region of the world. Of the 42 poorest nations listed by the UN in 2010, almost all are located in SubSaharan Africa.

1. Zimbabwe	22. Tanzania (United Republic of)
2. Congo (Democratic Republic of the)	23. Djibouti
3. Niger	24. Angola
4. Burundi	25. Haiti
5. Mozambique	26. Senegal
6. Guinea-Bissau	27. Uganda
7. Chad	28. Nigeria
8. Liberia	29. Lesotho
9. Burkina Faso	30. Comoros
10. Mali	31. Togo
11. Central African Republic	32. Nepal
12. Sierra Leone	33. Papua New Guinea
13. Ethiopia	34. Mauritania
14. Guinea	35. Madagascar
15. Afghanistan	36. Benin
16. Sudan	37. Yemen
17. Malawi	38. Myanmar
18. Rwanda	39. Cameroon
19. Gambia	40. Ghana
20. Zambia	41. Bangladesh
21. Côte d'lvoire	42. Kenya

2010 United Nations via InfopleaseThis is not a recent, or temporary phenomenon. Remains of human ancestors were first discovered in Africa. But if you click on the timeline of civilisations below, you can see that civilisation did not arise until after humans migrated out of Africa into Eurasia. And ever since, Africa has remained essentially the same, while the rest of the world pushed civilisation ahead by fits and starts.

As an African....if you are honest with yourself you come to realize, and admit the truth: central to this continent's backwardness are its people. Precisely the mentalities which most Africans approach life with. This is making a blanket statement obviously, because a hundred percent of any people cannot have a uniform view on any one issue. But by and large, too many black Africans are too willing to wallow in the blame game, to point accusing fingers at everyone but themselves. They are people who seem totally unaware that as grown human beings they (and other Africans like them) are to a large extent responsible for the choices they make, and how such choices impact their lives. They are utterly unwilling to accept facts that may contradict their world view, which is the dangerous and false idea that we are backward because other people are making us so; that these other people "will never give us a break and allow us to develop our societies so that we too can live in better material conditions..." _All Africa

There is a lot more than low IQ to blame for African backwardness and failure to civilise and develop a homemade high tech infrastructure. High disease rates, high rates of corruption in government, low executive function and poor impulse control -- all these and more combine to create the perfect storm of perpetual backwardness.

Africa stayed where it was for millenia - they didn't invent an alphabet and written language, neither did they make use of wheeled transport except in isolated cases. These are two of the corner stones of any technological society. Engineering is based on mathematics. Another discipline Africa knew nothing of.


Look at the facts. Then find an answer that fits the facts. If newer facts force one to update or abandon one's answer, so be it.


Statistically, any society needs a certain percentage of its population that is mentally agile. These people will be responsible for the bulk of all the advances of that society. I don't know what that percentage is - my guess is 10 - 15%. Africa does not have the required number of these achievers able to lift the whole society. And that's it.


Africans are not responsible for this state of affairs. None of us made ourselves. _WikiAnswers

You can find a large number of news stories about how quickly Africa is lifting itself out of poverty. But the future of Sub Saharan Africa is more accurately written in "The Coming Anarchy" than in the wishful whimsies coming from the politically correct skankstream.

"High" GDP growth rates are easy to achieve when you are starting from nothing. You must look at the source of Africa's wealth -- oil, diamonds, precious metals, uranium, etc -- and follow where the wealth goes. To Swiss bank accounts? To London townhouses and villas on the Med? More importantly, where is the human capital of Africa going? Overseas to the wealthy nations? Or is it staying at home to try to raise the native human capital of Africa? Be honest.

Africa's needs for food, technological assistance, monetary aid, outside medical support and intellectual uplift, is expanding as quickly as its rapid population growth. As long as the outside world supports the dark continent, we are nowhere close to reaching the theoretical limit to Africa's ability to absorb and dissipate outside help.

Africa needs to find ways to support itself, and build homegrown technologies and civilisations. But unless the stark underlying reality of African backwardness is acknowledged and addressed, Africa will continue to be the source of much tongue-clicking and head shaking.

A World Where All Humans Were SubSaharan Africans

The average IQ of subSaharan Africans is thought to be roughly somewhere between 70 and 80 (PDF). The map below is useful for comparing relative IQs for different populations, rather than for providing absolute numbers.

Modern people have long wondered why African nations -- and areas populated largely by persons of black African descent -- should be so backward, relatively, in terms of accomplishment and development. One sees this phenomenon from Africa to Haiti to Detroit. A useful chart from the book "IQ and the Wealth of Nations", has been summarised by Steve Sailer. The correlation between average national population IQ and the national GDP is very difficult to dispute.

This invites the question: What if all the humans in the entire world had the same IQ curve -- the same mean IQ and standard deviation -- as black sub Saharan Africans? What would be the state of the world's economy, its scientific and technological development, its scholarship, and its governance? This would indeed be a marvelous plot for an alternative history novel, or some kind of science fiction novel such as a post-apocalyptic scenario.

To get an idea of what things would be like, you would need to use your imaginations. Observe the IQ chart above: Mentally shift the IQ curve to the left, so that the peak lines up anywhere between 70 and 80 on the IQ scale. Then take a look at the annotations to the chart.

This will give you a general idea of the aptitude levels of most of the people living in such a world. From there, you should be able to imagine the state of world development, discovery, governance, and general welfare.

You might suggest that simply looking at the nations of sub Saharan Africa, or Haiti, would serve as a sufficient example of what life would be like in a world where the mean human IQ was between 70 and 80, with a standard deviation of about 15. But that would be ignoring the impact on Haiti and sub Saharan Africa of the high IQ world existing outside those boundaries, and partially overlapping in some cases.

Without high IQ outsiders, there would be no advanced healthcare, no airplanes, no cell phones, no vaccines, no automobiles, no radio or television, no advanced weaponry... and so on. Such a world would be very difficult for most people to imagine -- in fact, don't even try it at home if you have no advanced training. ;-)

One way in which this conceptual world may be pertinent to our present existence is in terms of modern demographic trends. While there are now about 7 billion humans on the planet, with more human population growth on the way, population growth is not evenly spread across the human-populated parts of the planet. If some event or trend took place which eliminated the high IQ populations of the planet, leaving the low IQ populations relatively undisturbed, such a human IQ curve as described above may come into being.

After that, what would happen next? Would the "Flynn Effect" magically transform the low IQ populations into high IQ populations, as many people seem to feel is happening now? Or will some sort of "10,000 Year Explosion" take place to steer humans to a higher intellectual plane?

You are the author, so you decide. This is a mental exercise, after all. But the choices you make in writing this story will determine whether your work is one of fantasy or science-based fiction. I prefer fiction that is based upon scientific rules, and disciplined by those rules. But you may do as you wish. But remember that although you are entitled to your own opinions and preferences, you are not entitled to your own facts. (That distinction is what separates producers from professors, journalists, politicians, and other parasites.)

Would the global population rise or fall from what it is at present? Would everyone be healthier and live longer? Would there be more wars, or more peace. Could everyone just get along? What do you think?

Africa and Nuclear Power: Could it Ever Work?

Subsaharan Africa is rich in minerals, oil, coal, and gas. From Nigeria to Angola to Ghana to South Africa, dictators are growing rich from diamonds, gold, and petroleum production. But the wealth never seems to trickle down to the people of SS Africa. Instead it is too often transferred to Swiss bank accounts, for purposes of conspicuous consumption by the African ruling classes traveling in Europe.

Subsaharan African countries are considered to be in desperate need of reliable electric power, as a starting point to build a more advanced civilisation. Many well-meaning people have suggested the use of nuclear power for Africa. Uranium is certainly abundant in Africa. But given the near-impossibility of finding trained African nuclear scientists, engineers, technicians, etc. for safe operation of a nuclear plant, how are African countries supposed to control the nuclear dragon? Even newer, safer modular reactors meant to operate relatively unattended while buried underground will still require significant oversight and security. And a new, more complex power grid will require a whole new level of maintenance and operating skill. Can Africans do it?

An optimistic article from Engineering News South Africa suggests that nuclear energy may be exactly what Africa needs. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Increasing electricity provision in developing nations results in almost instantaneous social upliftment of developing populations, as a direct result of increased economic growth.

However, electricity provision across the vast expanses of the African continent requires unique ‘African’ solutions, which original-equipment providers in places such as Europe seldom can provide, he said.

Kemm believes the answer lies in radial power supplies, using smaller electricity grids. This would entail the construction of smaller-scale power plants such as what would possibly have been achieved with the shelved Pebble Bed Modular Reactor project.

“Transporting electricity over long distances is wasteful, owing to energy losses and the maintenance of the associated infrastructure. Placing smaller power plants closer to the point of consumption is the ideal scenario for optimal energy efficiency,” he pointed out.

Further, the power source should be as reliable as possible, something Kemm said alternative power sources could not always guarantee.

He explained that wind power, for example, was not a reliable source of energy, owing to high capital costs and that the average output fluctuated severely with the seasons. Wind turbines were said to be less efficient at reduced wind speeds and could not take advantage of higher-than-optimal wind speeds, owing to maintenance concerns.

“France achieves the cheapest cost for electricity, owing to its significant reliance on nuclear power, whereas Belgium, one of the countries with the most installed wind turbines, has some of the most expensive electricity in the world.”

Meanwhile, Kemm believes that Africa needs African solutions for African needs. He pointed out that a small country such as Rwanda’s electricity consumption peaks at about 87 MW, whereas a medium-sized city such as East London consumes about 100 MW at peak levels.

The country does not have sufficient natural fossil fuel resources to feed, for example, a coal-fired power station, and cannot rely on such fuel to be reliably transported across numerous borders.

“A small-scale nuclear power plant would, in such a scenario, provide the ideal solution to long-term sustainable electricity supply to catapult the country’s growing economy into high-gear,” he explained.

Kemm argued that the key to unlocking economic development lies in providing a country with the cheapest possible electricity. It does not matter what the source is, whether it be from fossil fuels, locally available recyclable materials that could be used to generate small amounts of electricity, or alternative energy sources. _Engineering News

It is worth reading further at the link above, for a more enlightened view of climate change than one is likely to read in most mainstream media outlets. Clearly the physicist Dr. Kemm is not worried about being attacked by the South African PC Thought Police anytime soon, by his tone.

Certainly if one plans to take nuclear power to Africa, using small modular reactors (SMRs) in a decentralised pattern of implementation as described, is the most logical approach. But even in such a situation where small scale power grids connected to SMRs are utilised, the requirement for at least a minimal level of expertise in operation and maintenance cannot be overlooked.

In South Africa, the unique demographic pattern (for SS Africa) combined with an above-average educational system, has allowed the continuation of a modicum of a high tech infrastructure to be maintained, long after the abolition of the unjust Apartheid system. But most of SS Africa is without the human capital which South Africa still possesses -- in spite of its corrupt and inept ANC government.

Here is the cold hard truth for most of SS Africa: Outside corporations or nations will need to install new electrical power infrastructure in Africa, and outside expertise will be needed to safely and reliably operate and maintain the new infrastructure -- both the generator complexes and the new power grids.

Corporations such as Westinghouse, with its small modular reactor, could install small generation facilities for individual nations, and help to contract the construction of new grid infrastructure. As long as the oil and mineral dictators of Africa were willing to forego some of their conspicuous overseas consumption for the benefit of a more advanced society where average citizens could benefit, such an arrangement might be made safely.

The problem lies with the long term requirements of advanced nuclear and electrical infrastructure. African dictators will grow tired of paying outsiders to maintain their power systems, and will start to cut corners in operations and maintenance. Required upgrades will not be implemented, the systems will be pushed beyond tolerances, and will ultimately fail. At that point, will shutdown, decommissioning, and cleanup be performed according to accepted standards? Probably not.

Let's be honest: If South Africa -- the most advanced of SS African nations -- cannot keep its power grid running reliably through the winter with its great mineral and energy wealth, how can anyone expect the lesser SS nations to achieve this goal?

Professor Kemm's idea for decentralised power in Africa is a good one, but he did not go far enough, perhaps. The buildup of large African cities requires a support infrastructure that cannot be provided or maintained by native SS Africans. In other words, African cities and large scale industrial infrastructure are not sustainable, using only local talent and workers.

That is the key underlying problem that has to be addressed sooner or later. South Africa can perhaps hobble along for decades longer, based upon its legacy human capital. But other SS nations cannot. For those nations, a back to the basics approach to energy and fuels will be mandatory, if they wish to avoid disaster.

And that means bioenergy, as the core energy technology. Bioenergy will be labour intensive in SS Africa, which is a good thing. And it will provide for the scalable power and fuels production which SS Africa demands.

Unfortunately, outsiders will not leave Africa alone. It is this outside influence which has caused the problematic population explosion within Africa, and which has pushed Africans into cities that are too large for them to maintain in a safe and reliable manner.

This unstable urbanisation of Africa calls for ever more outside involvement to manage the instabilities, which will ultimately lead to even greater instabilities yet, requiring even more outside involvement, . . . . and so it goes until disaster happens.

The one thing that would save Africa is the thing that is unlikely to occur for a few more decades: a cheap, reliable, readily disseminated means for increasing the average IQ for large populations. Since that is unlikely to come along before the crisis point, powerful people in NGOs, the World Bank, the IMF, the UN, the EU, and other powerful international organisations, are likely to consider other solutions -- perhaps a UN program of forced sterilisation concealed within a mass immunisation program? Difficult to say.

The key point here is simply that one does not try to take populations from a 15th century existence directly to a 21st century existence without first ascertaining that the technology being utilised is appropriate for the populations involved. For most of SS Africa, there is no current form of nuclear energy that is appropriate. Perhaps in the future, that will change.

Everybody Talks about Low IQ in Africans, but Nobody Does Anything About It

IQ of Nations (Wikipedia)
By almost any measure imaginable, Subsaharan Africa is the most backward collection of nations on Earth. When taking measures of literacy, productivity, education, rule of law, corruption, crime, poverty, innovation in terms of patents, Nobel Prizes or Fields Medals, health care, quality of life, etc., SS Africa falls at or near the bottom.

IQ testing has consistently placed average population IQs of most Subsaharan African nations well below 80, with only the Australian aboriginal population (and closely related populations) scoring consistently lower. In other words, the actual performance of the SS African nations by almost any measure is perfectly consistent with the average population IQs which are generally obtained via testing.

If SS Africans consistently outperformed their putative population IQ scores, there would be excellent reason to doubt the validity of those scores. In that case, there would be ample justification to perform much more rigorous IQ testing across the nations of SS Africa. But even with the general agreement between national and regional performance and tested IQ scores, any honest scientist would insist that a program of careful and thorough cognitive testing be carried out in the region.

The reason for this is that there are many possible reasons for the low IQ scores in the region, some of which may well be amenable to intervention -- either now or in the foreseeable future. Valid baseline testing is crucial before any broad scale intervention, in order to assess its effectiveness.

Examples of interventions which might conceivably result in increased IQ scores across parts of SS Africa include eradicating or reducing many of the parasitic and infectious diseases in the region, improving general levels of maternal and childhood nutrition, improving early childhood intellectual stimuli and education, providing greater access to books and the internet, reducing local levels of violence and warfare, and so on . . .

Other viable interventions should suggest themselves as we learn more about the nature of intelligence. Two intriguing candidates for improving IQ which are available now include neurofeedback and working memory training.

Why is IQ important?

The results from a series of follow-up studies indicate that the IQ score at age 13 could be viewed as a relatively good indicator for future life outcomes, defined in terms of attained education, occupational status, and material well being. Dramatic differences in this attainment between the groups of respondents with high and low IQ scores attest to this conclusion. Smaller, yet still significant, differences between talented teenagers and their counterparts from the two control groups who apparently did not have the high IQ advantage also support the thesis that IQ matters much for life success. _Source

Intelligence is a life-long trait that exerts powerful influences on educational success, occupational status, use of health services, life style and recreational choices. _ScienceDirect

Specifically, adults with higher intelligence show attenuated cortical thinning and more pronounced cortical thickening over time than do subjects with average or below average IQ. Genes influencing variability in both intelligence and brain plasticity partly drive these associations. Thus, not only does the brain continue to change well into adulthood, these changes are functionally relevant because they are related to intelligence. _J.Neurosci

Relationships between brain volumes and IQ is being solidly established using MRI and DTI studies, and the relationship between cognitive aptitude - brain volume - and genetic complement is likewise being clearly elaborated bit by bit.

A lot of research will be needed to tease apart the portion of cognitive aptitude attributable to particular constellations of genes, from what is due to various factors in the environment. Throughout this very important process, valid and thorough cognitive testing across SS Africa -- and any other regions where interventions are contemplated -- is absolutely necessary.

Morbidity, mortality, life accomplishment and quality of life are all at stake. Leftist academics, politicians, and pundits attempt to cover up the problem, which only creates greater hardship and misery in the future. Much better to clearly define the problem, then discover what can be done about it -- and political correctness be damned.

More: Interesting website with an interesting assortment of articles on IQ

Finally, look over the charts below and consider what kind of society you could put together with a population whose mean IQ is 70, with a standard deviation of 15.

Atlantropa: Connecting Africa to the Modern World

Atlantropa Video Part I of VI (German)
In order to bring more of the benefits of modern civilisation to Islam and Africa, Europe will need to provide greater access to the primitive lands and dark continent. A dam across the Gibraltar Straits and a bridge from Italy to Tunisia, would be good starting points. A tunnel from Spain to Morocco would provide further high speed rail access.

...Sicily [would be] connected to both Tunisia and the Italian mainland (allowing, among other things for a regular train service between Berlin and Cape Town). In the western half, the water would be lowered by 100 meters, in the eastern half by as much as 200 meters, combining to create 576,000 km2 new dry land, a fifth of the Mediterranean’s surface, or more than the surface of Belgium and France together. _BigThink

Strategic damming of the Congo and tributaries would provide two large inland seas, allowing for extensive development of the African interior. Continuous train service would link Capetown, South Africa, with all European destinations.

More information on Atlantropa
Wikipedia Atlantropa
Big Think Atlantropa
Greening the Sahara

The Atlantropa project was the grand scheme of Herman Sorgel, a German architect who lived through the Nazi era. He wanted to provide an alternative to Hitler's war-for-lebensraum, by creating new land and new frontiers without the need for another war in Europe. But his plans and schemes were all for naught, as Hitler ignored Sorgel's ideas, and laid waste to Europa. Instead of hope and new frontiers, Hitler brought despair and devastation.

As for how China might view a modern resurrection of the Atlantropa idea, use your imaginations. Somehow I doubt the rulers of African nations would mind too very much, as long as the payoff was considered sufficient.

A Nuclear Power Plant for Nigeria? What a Wonderful World . . .

Nigeria's Federal Government is set to sign an agreement with the Russian Federation for the building of Nigeria's first nuclear power plant. Nigeria is an oil-rich African nation which is looking to diversify its sources of energy and electrical power. Nigeria has been seeking help from Russia for some time in this regard, and Nigeria's leaders are somewhat unhappy with Russia's slow response to their requests.

Modern nuclear power plants are quite safe when properly designed, built, and operated. In Japan's recent deadly natural disaster, well over 20,000 Japanese people lost their lives from a massive earthquake and tsunami, but none died as a result of a serious nuclear power plant shutdown and partial core meltdown. When such rare and unexpected events occur, the right people to cope with the situation must be on hand.

The chart on top shows the IQ distribution curves for four fuzzily defined racial groups: Asian, White, Hispanic, and Black. These curves are approximations based upon the best scientific evidence available. The second chart above shows a global IQ map by nation, again using the best available scientific evidence to produce the chart. In both charts it is clear that blacks and Africans lag behind all other "races" and nations tested. Why is this important in regard to a nuclear power plant in Nigeria? Look at the chart below:

This chart describes the IQ requirements for different types of professions, occupations, and vocations. If a population's IQ mean and IQ distribution curve provides an inadequate number of persons bright enough to become qualified engineers, technicians, scientists, etc, that population on its own will find it very difficult to maintain a high technology infrastructure. In terms of nuclear power plants, the personnel requirements are particularly critical in the cases where things go wrong.

It has been argued that Africans score poorly on IQ test for reasons having nothing to do with underlying intelligence. It is very important to test this hypothesis using the very best scientific tools available. If black and African populations have been judged unfairly in this regard, it is of utmost importance that this injustice be corrected.

Unfortunately, modern politically correct culture only wants to sweep the issue under the rug, and deny its importance entirely -- without performing the proper scientific experiments. That would be most unwise in this age of rapid scientific and technological progress -- when the mishandling of modern technologies could lead to tens or hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths, and other lingering problems.

This series of blog postings from "Race, Genes, and Disparity," discusses a way in which this uncertainty could be settled fairly and scientifically. Objective criteria for testing should be devised and implemented, so that modern societies can face important issues with the information that they need.

The enhancing of human intelligence is becoming a critically important issue for all societies. Nigeria has recently made the cognitive enhancer Vinpocetine available to Nigerians in an effort to bring the "national IQ" up to global standards. Other, more effective methods of increasing IQ are likely to come along in the near future. Even if western nations do not approve such therapies for use by normal persons, it is likely that nations of the third world and emerging world (BRICS etc) will have no such qualms about their use.

Whether the Russians build a nuclear power plant for Nigeria, is up to the Russians and the Nigerians. One might ask whether the Nigerian government will be willing to pay Russian engineers, technicians, electricians, welders, turbine specialists, etc to maintain the power plant indefinitely? If not, who will be minding the nuclear power plant?

The same issue is likely to emerge in other African nations, attempting agreements with Russia, China, India, etc. for the building of advanced technologies which require elite scientific and technological oversight. If the African nation is willing and able to pay for the technology, what business is it to outsiders -- as long as the technology being sold is not nuclear technology or other technology of mass death?

Africa is littered with crumbling and rusting technological projects built by colonial powers and outside interests. They are rusting and crumbling because they were not maintained. The neglect of proper maintenance is typical of the third world environment, and besides suggesting a low cognitive complement, the phenomena of widespread neglect also suggests a low executive function (EF) complement. Low IQ and Low EF: Not a promising combination for the wise development of potentially deadly technologies. Think about it.

Can Biofuels Save SubSaharan Africa?

800 million people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and a third of them don’t have enough food. By 2050, an estimated 1.95 billion people will be trying to live off the land in that region. Even if everyone in Sub-Saharan Africa were only to be fed as inadequately as they are today, the region would need to more than triple its food production over the next 40 years. For everyone on the continent to have enough to eat, food production would have to more than quadruple. _NYT

SubSaharan Africa is desperately in need of industries which will provide both work for the people, and crucial international trade for hard currency. Africa's oil and minerals industries tend to be run by outsiders, with most of the profits going overseas, and settling in the Swiss accounts of top government officials and cronies.

According to many scientists, Africa is custom-made for the coming biofuels revolution.

Dr. Lynd and Dr. Woods suggest that a growing bioenergy economy can be the key to driving this agricultural boom. Land is relatively plentiful in Africa, they write, and land for crops and land for fuel will not necessarily be in direct competition.

On marginal lands that cannot support agriculture in any case, they see great potential for biofuel crops, which require less water and nutrients. Africa’s vast land resources could also make the continent a competitive exporter of biofuels, which could bring in money for the basic infrastructure needed to transport and process food, they argued. It could also provide an economic incentive for rehabilitating degraded lands, the thinking goes.

...In an interview, Dr. Woods pointed out that it’s “always easier to think of problems than it is to think of solutions.

“It’s thanks to the demonization of bioenergy,” he said, “that companies are afraid to potentially tarnish their public image by exploring the potential that bioenergy offers Africa.” _NYT

Most people who demonise biofuels have not bothered to keep up with research and development in the rapidly changing field. They tend to look at ten-year-old data on corn ethanol production, and base their calculations and projections upon obsolete technological systems. Such approaches typify the mediocrity rampant in modern academia, thanks to a politically correct dumbing down of academic standards, and a destructive tendency to abort healthy debates prematurely -- declaring winners on the basis of ideological criteria.

The fertile land and abundant workforce of Africa are already in place. There is a need for modern agricultural, business, and land management expertise. But the greatest need now, if African biofuels are to prosper, is to find a way around the massive infrastructure-of-corruption which rules in virtually every SS African state.

One danger is that corrupt leaders -- for a price -- will allow foreign companies to set up huge plantations which will strip the land, with no provision for future fertility and long-term production. Another danger is that farmers with government or NGO grants -- but without guidance or skills -- will try to grow crops which are not appropriate for their soil and climate.

The biofuels potential for SS Africa is large, and promising well into the future. If managed properly, the land of SS Africa can feed even larger numbers than at present, and provide them with a decent income at the same time.

Is 4.9% a Year Growth Rate a Rapid Growth for Africa?

Africa boasts an abundance of riches: 10 percent of the world’s reserves of oil, 40 percent of its gold, and 80 to 90 percent of the chromium and the platinum metal group. Those are just the known reserves; no doubt more lies undiscovered. _MQ

Global Map of Nations by per cent Living Under $1.25 per day
McKinsey Quarterly has published a fascinating look at recent economic growth in the continent of Africa (h/t Brian Wang). According to the report, real GDP growth over the continent averaged 4.9% per year between the years 2000 and 2008. This was twice Africa's growth rate over the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. The report goes on to discuss the many issues leading to such growth, and other factors that will be involved in future African growth. From McKinsey:

Africa’s collective GDP, at $1.6 trillion in 2008, is now roughly equal to Brazil’s or Russia’s, and the continent is among the world’s most rapidly growing economic regions. This acceleration is a sign of hard-earned progress and promise.

While Africa’s increased economic momentum is widely recognized, its sources and likely staying power are less understood. Soaring prices for oil, minerals, and other commodities have helped lift GDP since 2000. Forthcoming research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) shows that resources accounted for only about a third of the newfound growth.1 The rest resulted from internal structural changes that have spurred the broader domestic economy. Wars, natural disasters, or poor government policies could halt or even reverse these gains in any individual country. But in the long term, internal and external trends indicate that Africa’s economic prospects are strong.

...Natural resources, and the related government spending they financed, generated just 32 percent of Africa’s GDP growth from 2000 through 2008.2 The remaining two-thirds came from other sectors, including wholesale and retail, transportation, telecommunications, and manufacturing (Exhibit 1). Economic growth accelerated across the continent, in 27 of its 30 largest economies. Indeed, countries with and without significant resource exports had similar GDP growth rates.

...To start, several African countries halted their deadly hostilities, creating the political stability necessary to restart economic growth. Next, Africa’s economies grew healthier as governments reduced the average inflation rate from 22 percent in the 1990s to 8 percent after 2000. They trimmed their foreign debt by one-quarter and shrunk their budget deficits by two-thirds.

Finally, African governments increasingly adopted policies to energize markets. They privatized state-owned enterprises, increased the openness of trade, lowered corporate taxes, strengthened regulatory and legal systems, and provided critical physical and social infrastructure. Nigeria privatized more than 116 enterprises between 1999 and 2006, for example, and Morocco and Egypt struck free-trade agreements with major export partners.

...The continent’s four most advanced economies—Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia—are already broadly diversified. Manufacturing and services together total 83 percent of their combined GDP. Domestic services, such as construction, banking, telecom, and retailing, have accounted for more than 70 percent of their growth since 2000. They are among the continent’s richest economies and have the least volatile GDP growth. With all the necessary ingredients for further expansion, they stand to benefit greatly from increasing ties to the global economy.

Domestic consumption is the largest contributor to growth in these countries. Their cities added more than ten million people in the last decade, real consumer spending has grown by 3 to 5 percent annually since 2000, and 90 percent of all house-holds have some discretionary income. As a result, consumer-facing sectors such as retailing, banking, and telecom have grown rapidly. Urbanization has also prompted a construction boom that created 20 to 40 percent of all jobs over the past decade.

...If recent trends continue, Africa will play an increasingly important role in the global economy. By 2040, it will be home to one in five of the planet’s young people, and the size of its labor force will top China’s. Africa has almost 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land and a large share of the natural resources. Its consumer-facing sectors are growing two to three times faster than those in the OECD7 countries. And the rate of return on foreign investment is higher in Africa than in any other developing region. Global executives and investors cannot afford to ignore this. A strategy for Africa must be part of their long-term planning. _MQ

The report excerpted and linked above is quite optimistic toward the economic prospects for Africa over the next 3 decades, based upon this "4.9% a year growth rate." But Al Fin economic and social forecasters do not take quite the sanguine view as those of the McKinsey Institute.

As seen in the map at the top of this entry, Africa is quite diverse in terms of economic conditions. It is an act of false parsimony to consider the entire continent of Africa as one unit, economically. Instead, one should look at SubSaharan Africa separate from North Africa, economically and socially. Further, one should subdivide SubSaharan Africa into tropical and temperate regions, when considering investments and partnerships. McKinsey failed to stratify African nations other than by "economic diversification" and "exports per capita." Useful, but not sufficient. It is difficult to draw useful conclusions when data is so badly conflated.

The time period selected by the report for extrapolating Africa's future may not be representative of what to expect from a realistic future Africa. The ongoing instability in Egypt and Libya, for example, suggest that the chronic instability of most of tribal Africa may be spreading into nations where tribal and religious instability had been temporarily suppressed by strong political regimes of long duration.

Urbanisation may bolster GDP growth numbers temporarily, for example, due to the more quantified economic nature of more modern city living vs. quasi-ancient rural life styles. Yet there are limits to how large stable cities can grow under certain demographic conditions. Many of Africa's cities are already pressing those limits. Frequent instances and high rates of crime, disease, poverty, malnutrition, and crumbling infrastructure suggest that many of these cities may already be near the breaking point.

Modern high tech infrastructures -- such as those which allow more advanced nations to enjoy the fruits of modern trade and sci-tech development -- are dependent upon an infrastructure of human capital which is capable of maintaining and improving the underlying technological infrastructure. In the absence of capable maintenance, repair, and construction, societal infrastructure tends to collapse at the most inopportune times.

Here is the blunt truth, which Political Correctness tries to obscure: Modern affluent lifestyles require a high tech infrastructure which can only be maintained by populations with average IQs close to 90 or above. This is an inexorable result of the normal statistical distribution of occupational abilities centering around the mean (for both IQ and EF, both of which are highly heritable). The only way for a society to exceed the "IQ limit" is if the nation hosts a "market dominant minority" -- or smart fraction -- of higher IQ persons capable of maintaining markets and infrastructures -- market dominant minorities such as the Chinese in Malaysia or Indonesia, or the shrinking populations of high-IQ groups still in South Africa.

North Africa's populations have a different evolutionary history than the populations of SubSaharan Africa. For some countries of North Africa, the average population IQs are near 85. But for most SubSaharan African nations, average population IQs are well below 80 -- generally averaging in the 70s. The reasons for such low average IQs involve multiple factors, but the blunt facts of low average IQ (and EF) are clear and stand in the way of large scale indigenous economic development across many chronically underdeveloped parts of the world.

Global IQ Map by Nation
For Africa to grow sustainably, it will need to attract leadership and energy from the outside -- and keep it there rather than driving it out, as was done in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, etc. An expansion of what it means to be "African" is mandatory -- but it can only be made to last in an Africa of greatly expanded opportunity and radically reduced corruption and populist demagoguery.

Al Fin futurists suspect that perpetually ambitious and corrupt African tribal leaders and strongmen will only accept the changes that are needed under the sanction of a "superior being." In abstract terms, think quasi-theocracy. In real terms, that would mean either an outside (perhaps "extraterrestrial") group of vastly superior technological capacity, a genuine artificial intelligence of superior wisdom and cognition, or a sufficiently convincing imitation of one or the other.

Adapted from an earlier article at Al Fin, the Next Level

A 60,000 Year Explosion of Invention?

IQ Map of World
Most readers of this blog have heard of the "10,000 Year Explosion" by Harpending and Cochrane, which convincingly describes how evolution can quickly work to change an insular breeding population of humans. Something similar -- the evolution of invention -- may have taken place on a global scale, after early humans moved out of Africa sometime over 60,000 years ago.

Before relatively recent contact with outside cultures, Subsaharan Africans did not invent the wheel, did not invent writing, developed minimal art, or agriculture, lacked musical instruments beyond simple percussion, and came up virtually empty in terms of math, science, and technology. Why the almost complete absence of invention and development?

The map of world IQ at top provides a tentative answer to the question, but the map raises a more central question: Why do SubSaharan African populations test so low, on average, on tests of IQ, executive function, and impulse control? Is it possible that a significant part of the development of the human "superbrain" -- which makes invention and modern advanced civilisation possible -- developed only after humans left the African birthplace?

The dispersal of modern humans from Africa to Europe [60,000 some] years ago provides a “minimum date” for the development of language, Hoffecker speculated. “Since all languages have basically the same structure, it is inconceivable to me that they could have evolved independently at different times and places.”

A 2007 study led by Hoffecker and colleagues at the Russian Academy of Sciences pinpointed the earliest evidence of modern humans in Europe dating back 45,000 years ago. Located on the Don River 250 miles south of Moscow, the multiple sites, collectively known as Kostenki, also yielded ancient bone and ivory needles complete with eyelets, showing the inhabitants tailored furs to survive the harsh winters.

The team also discovered a carved piece of mammoth ivory that appears to be the head of a small figurine dating to more than 40,000 years ago. “If that turns out to be the case, it would be the oldest piece of figurative art ever discovered,” said Hoffecker, whose research at Kostenki is funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

The finds from Kostenki illustrate the impact of the creative mind of modern humans as they spread out of Africa into places that were sometimes cold and lean in resources, Hoffecker said. “Fresh from the tropics, they adapted to ice age environments in the central plain of Russia through creative innovations in technology.”

Ancient musical instruments and figurative art discovered in caves in France and Germany date to before 30,000 years ago, he said. “Humans have the ability to imagine something in the brain that doesn’t exist and then create it,” he said. “Whether it’s a hand axe, a flute or a Chevrolet, humans are continually recombining bits of information into novel forms, and the variations are potentially infinite.” _SB

The absence of sophisticated invention or innovation prior to the human diaspora out of Africa, or in SubSaharan Africa since that diaspora, suggests a potentially deep distinction in the way that humans inside SS Africa think in comparison to how Eurasian humans learned to think.

It would be good to be able to research this puzzle, but unfortunately, the straitjacket of Political Correctness prevents the raising of such questions -- even for purposes of objective scientific research. Which means that those of us who are curious will have to conduct our investigations under the table, so to speak.

Is that not always how it is, when intelligent and curious humans are faced with oppressive and authoritarian culture-reichs, such as the modern quasi-left postmodern PC culture?

More: Some links to websites listing some ancient inventions:

Ancient Inventions

Inventions of Ancient China

Top 10 Ancient Inventions

Adapted from an earlier article at abu al-fin

Descent of Africa Tests the Honesty of the Politically Correct

There was a great global rejoicing over the death of the apartheid regime of South Africa, and the coming of majority rule in 1994. Media analysts -- regardless of political persuasion -- were genuinely ecstatic over the rise of democratic self-governance in South Africa, and expected great things from Africa's richest nation, after apartheid.

But something happened along the road to paradise for South Africa. Things got worse for everyone except the few corrupt insiders within the ANC. Crime, corruption, disease, poverty, human misery, all much worse -- and worsening with time, just as in Zimbabwe under Mugabe. But if you try to get a leftist's honest opinion about the ongoing descent of South Africa, you may find the going a bit rocky, to say the least.

The central problem of writing about South Africa is that it is almost impossible to explain the country's slow-motion catastrophe in terms that make sense to foreigners... All power concentrated in the hands of an over-mighty President who attempts to prolong his rule. The decay of infrastructure through poor maintenance alongside a pronounced taste for prestige expenditures. Power cuts for the people, the arrogance of power for the elite and an ever-growing chasm of inequality between...

...When Mugabe took power in 1980, Zimbabwe [formerly Rhodesia -- ed.] was regarded as one of Africa's jewels, a country with good infrastructure, deep soil, and a thriving agricultural sector, whose exports were the country's largest sources of foreign earnings....Mugabe turned nasty, organizing mobs to drive white farmers off their land—a move intended to restore the dictator's popularity with the masses. Instead, it destroyed the country's banking system, which in turn led to soaring inflation and generalized economic collapse. With most of his subjects facing starvation, Mugabe and his generals resorted to naked repression.

...As for Mbeki, the godfather of the African Renaissance backed Mugabe from the outset, shielding him against condemnatory United Nations and Commonwealth resolutions and blocking the Human Rights Commission's attempts to investigate his atrocities. South Africans were told that Mbeki was working behind the scenes to prevent Zimbabwe's implosion, but the country imploded anyway, driving millions of refugees into South Africa, where they sat on street corners, attempting to exchange worthless billion-dollar Zimbabwe banknotes for bread crusts. Zimbabwe's implosion had become part of our implosion, and still Mbeki remained silent

...Elsewhere, we have FAILED BILLION-DOLLAR EDUCATION PROGRAM; WHISTLE-BLOWER MURDERED; WIFE OF NIA CHIEF ON TRIAL FOR SMUGGLING COCAINE, the NIA being our CIA. And finally, the story of the hour: The National Prosecuting Authority has abandoned its investigation into the whereabouts of $130 million in bribes generated by South Africa's notorious 1990s arms deal.

In the West, scandals of this magnitude would topple governments. Here, they are almost meaningless. Most will never be pursued or resolved satisfactorily. The electorate will not stand up and scream, "Enough!" In many cases, the alleged culprits won't even be investigated, and the incompetent bureaucrats who presided over the education fiasco will not be fired. In a week or two, these stories will be blown off the front pages by equally hair-raising scandals, most of which will also just fade away. It's been like this for years, and there comes a time when you stop paying attention lest the drumbeat of bad news drive you mad. _BookForum

NationsOnline
Africa was colonised by several foreign powers, whose nation-building badly disrupted the tribal and language infrastructure which had existed in pre-colonial times. But then, when maintaining their colonies proved too much for European powers after WWII, their African possessions were "dispossessed" and left largely to fend for themselves.

But oddly, Africa did not rise out of poverty like Japan and Germany had done -- after World War II, or like South Korea did after the Korean War, or like China did after it rejected Maoism in favour of a more pro-business economic environment. No, Africa went downhill after de-colonisation, rather than upward.

Yes, you will see numbers claiming that certain African nations are growing economically, and certain to rise from poverty "any day now." But if you look more closely, you will see that the oil and mineral dictatorships of Africa are selling natural resources to outsiders -- the leaders then stashing their profits in overseas bank accounts. Not the kind of prosperity a nation could actually build upon to benefit most of its citizens.

Corruption, disease, poverty, violent tribal and ideological conflict -- everything that was true of the rest of Africa except Rhodesia and South Africa, suddenly began becoming true for Zimbabwe and majority-rule South Africa. How does one explain this near-uniformity of poverty, hopelessness, disease, violence, and near absence of achievement across an entire sub-continent? If one is a leftist -- once euphoric over the emergence of majority rule in Zimbabwe and South Africa -- how does one explain the ongoing collapse of once-rich and once-proud nations?

If one is not a leftist, he might look at such things as "race, genes, and disparity." Such biologically-based factors involved in the study of evolutionary human biodiversity may correlate far better with the actual conditions on the ground, in Africa, than more abstract concepts which are far more popular with the leftists and proto-leftists of media, academia, popular culture, and most political organisations. But the modern intellectual world has little tolerance for demonstrable, evidence-based theories, if they contradict politically correct dogma.

And for at least that reason, one cannot truly hold an honest discussion about Africa with most leftists. Of course, many evidence-based theories contradict politically correct dogma, so Africa is not the only topic which is verboten, in terms of honest discussion.

Anyone who wants to make his way to the higher levels of achievement in the politically correct world, must needs adjust his crap detector to its lowest possible setting, so as to be able to tolerate the PC crap which passes for common wisdom among most pseudo-intellectuals in academia, media, culture, and politics.

Those of us who are unable to make such adjustments will just have to create something better on our own.

Why Not the Lagos Symphony Orchestra?

Video h/t: Instapundit
The London Symphony Orchestra presents a seasonal performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, in the video above.

Handel was a German composer who transplanted himself to London, where he composed his greatest works, and where he was eventually buried in Westminster Abbey. Performances of Handel's Messiah are performed around the world near Christmas time.

What if cosmetic changes were made to the appearances of the singers and musicians in the video above, and the video were labeled "Handel's Messiah performed by the Lagos Symphony Orchestra?" Would you be surprised at the quality of musicianship, or by the ornateness of the performance hall? Would you be puzzled as to why Nigerians would celebrate Handel's Messiah? Would you be amazed that Lagos even has a symphony orchestra? (Lagos does have a symphony of sorts, in development)

Is it a mark of racism not to expect great performances from a Port-au-Prince Symphony Orchestra, or a Nairobi Symphony Orchestra? There is a Nairobi Symphony, by the way, although it can be difficult finding performances by the group on YouTube.

Why is it impolite to bring up such questions at faculty cocktail parties? You find symphony orchestras across East and South Asia, South America, North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand... In countries large and small across the civilised world, orchestras form and fight to survive through good times and bad. Even Antarctica would have a symphony if the scientists, technicians, and explorers stayed longer and outposts were close enough together to bring enough talent together.

Take a look at the list of African symphony orchestras. North Africa has three countries with symphony orchestras, all with a past history of strong European influence. South Africa has multiple symphony orchestras, but most of them will no doubt suffer the fate of the late Rhodesian symphonies. Kenya claims two orchestras, but they were no doubt formed under British colonial rule, and are likely struggling to survive. Ghana claims a symphony orchestra, but its website has not been updated since 2004.

No doubt it is quite gauche to discuss such a topic -- especially on Christmas -- but how do humans expect to solve their problems if they are unwilling to look at them clearly and unblinkingly?

Rapid growth in low IQ populations coupled with an implosion of high IQ populations results in a steadily decreasing global IQ. Low IQ populations combined with fanatical religions of conquest such as fundamentalist Islam lead not only to an Idiocracy, they lead to a violent Idiocracy. And while the Idiocracy movie was funny, it was not realistic. Coming idiocracies are almost certain to be very violent.

Every tax, regulation, law, and court judgment that leads to a re-distribution of wealth and resources from productive sectors to the coming Idiocracy, is dysfunctional. Political correctness is helping to bring about a coming anarchy, a growing Idiocracy. You may not be able to stop it, but for the sake of a decent future, stop voting for it!