I live in an area of Pennsylvania very close to the Amish farms and our visitors always marvel at and enjoy driving out to see them living life oblivious to the first world amenities around them. They choose to live a more basic and simple life, but many people in this world don't have the choice!
Technology has changed our lives so much! Can you imagine landing on an island with nothing, and no way to access the outside world? If it was just you and nature, you would very quickly come to understand how technology, no matter how small or somewhat insignificant, has changed your life.
I was explaining to someone just yesterday an example of something that some people in the world view as a right, and not a development of technology. This technology, as some what basic and insignificant to most people in the western communities, has made huge strides in impacting our way of life.
"Technology reduces tasks to the most minimal amount of time, and time is our most valuable and priceless commodity."
Think about taking a shower, Most of us in the western communities expect this activity to happen on a daily basis and take no longer than 5mins. We get ready and head to the shower, turn on the tap and adjust the temperature to the desired level. All in all it is very painless and a quick activity that makes a daily option very painless and easy to do.
Now lets see what some people in rural parts of Africa would have to do in order to achieve the same thing that took you 5 minutes. They would first need to head down to the nearest water source, lake river etc. Lets just say that it is a 30 minute walk to the water and the same back. We won't add in any time for the actual water collection, so an hour later they are back home, sweaty and certainly ready for a shower. Your shower takes 5 minutes because you have an endless supply of hot and cold water, theirs only lasts 2 minutes, as that is all the water that they were able to bring back home in one trip.
A shower in rural Africa takes 1 hour 2 minutes, compared to the 5 minutes it takes you. If taking a shower was this much effort for you, would it still be a daily activity?
The simple expected technology of water distribution and water heating, has allowed you an extra 57 minutes to be productive. The lack of technology and infrastructure in Africa, causes on a daily basis a great divide between the African developing economies and the western developed economies.
What other technologies do you take for advantage that gives you an advantage over the developing world daily?
Technology has changed our lives so much! Can you imagine landing on an island with nothing, and no way to access the outside world? If it was just you and nature, you would very quickly come to understand how technology, no matter how small or somewhat insignificant, has changed your life.
I was explaining to someone just yesterday an example of something that some people in the world view as a right, and not a development of technology. This technology, as some what basic and insignificant to most people in the western communities, has made huge strides in impacting our way of life.
"Technology reduces tasks to the most minimal amount of time, and time is our most valuable and priceless commodity."
Think about taking a shower, Most of us in the western communities expect this activity to happen on a daily basis and take no longer than 5mins. We get ready and head to the shower, turn on the tap and adjust the temperature to the desired level. All in all it is very painless and a quick activity that makes a daily option very painless and easy to do.
Now lets see what some people in rural parts of Africa would have to do in order to achieve the same thing that took you 5 minutes. They would first need to head down to the nearest water source, lake river etc. Lets just say that it is a 30 minute walk to the water and the same back. We won't add in any time for the actual water collection, so an hour later they are back home, sweaty and certainly ready for a shower. Your shower takes 5 minutes because you have an endless supply of hot and cold water, theirs only lasts 2 minutes, as that is all the water that they were able to bring back home in one trip.
A shower in rural Africa takes 1 hour 2 minutes, compared to the 5 minutes it takes you. If taking a shower was this much effort for you, would it still be a daily activity?
The simple expected technology of water distribution and water heating, has allowed you an extra 57 minutes to be productive. The lack of technology and infrastructure in Africa, causes on a daily basis a great divide between the African developing economies and the western developed economies.
What other technologies do you take for advantage that gives you an advantage over the developing world daily?
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