was a busy week but did manage to get to Joe studwell's book - "how africa works" - too lazy and tired to pump out a blog post on this one but here are a few critiques i have on it.
was not sure about even cracking open this book seeing the blurb from bill gates.
idk why but studwell's emphasis on labor-intensive manufacturing as the primary ladder to middle-income status while for most part that stands true most countries are now leveraging service-led growth, since automated industrial systems and AI are lowering the cost of production in developed nations (don't include your claude fees lol), the windows for African nations to compete on cheap manual labor is closing. Studwell spends 300 pages on factories but relatively little on the digital economy or high value services like fintech & AI (which also raises its own set of questions, well put by Amanuel on his substack) which might be a more fast-track strategy.
- https://mershaaman.substack.com/p/does-ai-really-help-africa-really?triedRedirect=true
was not sure about even cracking open this book seeing the blurb from bill gates.
idk why but studwell's emphasis on labor-intensive manufacturing as the primary ladder to middle-income status while for most part that stands true most countries are now leveraging service-led growth, since automated industrial systems and AI are lowering the cost of production in developed nations (don't include your claude fees lol), the windows for African nations to compete on cheap manual labor is closing. Studwell spends 300 pages on factories but relatively little on the digital economy or high value services like fintech & AI (which also raises its own set of questions, well put by Amanuel on his substack) which might be a more fast-track strategy.
- https://mershaaman.substack.com/p/does-ai-really-help-africa-really?triedRedirect=true
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also another thing is ethnic and regional fragmentation in many African states, the export discipline he admires requires highly centralized, insulated bureaucracy. In many African contexts, forcing a winner takes all industrial policy can trigger civil unrest or be perceived as ethnic favoritism, a nuance studwell's misses often this book ( or outright just decided to ignore)
you cannot build the Asian miracle in 2026 without addressing green energy constraints and carbon taxes (which thanks to all those data centers seems like a joke now adays ). he really focuses on productivity at all costs, largely ignoring how environmental degradation and climate induced migration threaten the very agricultural foundations he proposes
the informal sector is a massive source of resilience and innovation in Africa, But by focusing exclusively on "Scale" (large farms, large factories) his model risks displacing millions of informal workers before the formal sector is ready to absorb them
you cannot build the Asian miracle in 2026 without addressing green energy constraints and carbon taxes (which thanks to all those data centers seems like a joke now adays ). he really focuses on productivity at all costs, largely ignoring how environmental degradation and climate induced migration threaten the very agricultural foundations he proposes
the informal sector is a massive source of resilience and innovation in Africa, But by focusing exclusively on "Scale" (large farms, large factories) his model risks displacing millions of informal workers before the formal sector is ready to absorb them
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sanet.st_The Robot Rights Manifesto.rar
7.6 MB
Had an interesting conversation yesterday with @HenokNet about AI and robots being used in war, shared this in his comment sections too but something for the curious people here too
also: https://www.stopkillerrobots.org
#bookrecs
also: https://www.stopkillerrobots.org
#bookrecs
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did you know Iran exports 1.6 million barrels of oil a day and mostly to china
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North Korea Was Right About Nuclear Weapons
https://www.persuasion.community/p/north-korea-was-right-about-nuclear?utm_medium=web&_src_ref=t.co
https://www.persuasion.community/p/north-korea-was-right-about-nuclear?utm_medium=web&_src_ref=t.co
www.persuasion.community
North Korea Was Right About Nuclear Weapons
Yes, really.
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Forwarded from Blue Cabins
Imma need to sign a contract with a stranger for a hug per week. No talks, no nothing. We'll wear red hats to recognize each other, we'll hug it out for 2 mins or so and then one of us does the worm while the other beatboxes. we'll decide that part with a coin flip.
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