Say you go to a small village. People are hungry. Is the priority an electronic mailbox … or 100 kilograms of corn? What we’ve learned, over the past 20 years, is that the mailbox may well be the priority.
Predictor: Fall, Babacar
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Jeff Greenwald looks at the feasibility of the Internet’s success in Africa in a visit to Dakar, Senegal, where he finds a man who could provide hope for networking, Babacar Fall, a Senegalese journalist and communications specialist appointed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to revive the Pan African News Agency. Greenwald writes: ”[Babacar] Fall’s vision of a wired Africa, in fact, has less to do with late-breaking news than with the more complex issue of Pan-African development … ‘For years,’ he said, ‘the main obstacle to real development has been the statement, “We have to feed the people first.” After all, who can withhold food? But if you want the people to feed themselves, you have to have a different view.’ He gave me an appraising look. ‘Say you go to a small village. People are hungry. Is the priority an electronic mailbox … or 100 kilograms of corn?’ I said nothing. Fall nodded his head. ‘What we’ve learned, over the past 20 years, is that the mailbox may well be the priority.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Wiring Africa: You Go to a Small Village in Africa. People Are Hungry. Is the Real Solution 100 Kilograms of Corn – or an Electronic Mailbox?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.06/africa_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney