This tech issue is real; that’s why Tanzania is rushing to cram Stem

By ELSIE EYAKUZE

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clarke

Perhaps saying that I would cram Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, science fiction and anti-vaccination into one article and make it work was overreach. Still, here we go.

For most of human history, the world has been more or less divided along the lines of the haves and the have-nots, outside of the very few egalitarian indigenous people who remain in tune with nature. Power and resources are accumulated by force and trade, social hierarchy splits us along those who govern and those toil away to keep the governing class plump through taxes and profits.

Sure, modern democratic nation-states give us the warm fuzzy feeling that this is not a locked-in system, but a glance around the globe suggests we haven’t quite broken out of the cycle yet. Autocracy is on the rise after all- the age old oligarchy problem.

In the last article I mentioned self-determination as one of Mwalimu’s concepts for the survival and thriving of Africans. He meant it specifically as part of the recovery from the ravages of colonialism. Mwalimu was adamant — and rightly so — that one of the most important ways in which the ability to master our own fates was to be achieved was through the miracles of education: reading, writing, arithmetic. But Mwalimu, a man of his time, did not go far enough— when education is done really well it has to go beyond literacy and into analytical, critical thinking and innovation. The attribute that we have as humans that gives us such incredible advantages is our intellect, but our real superpower lies in our imagination.

The 21st Century has brought about a new dimension to the human power dynamic. Before it was haves, have-nots in terms of material and force. Now it is emerging that we should really be worrying about those who know, and those who know not.

There is a reason why every country is scrambling to cram Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) into their curricula: even my slow-poke government of Tanzania figured out the game has changed and this technological issue is real. I just want to throw in that in addition to Stem, we should include science fiction — or as it is now known, speculative fiction. I say this because of the terrible power of imagination that I mentioned earlier.

You see, the problem with humanity is that we can think things into being. Take flight: just about every society through time has had a dream about it. Birdmen, flying carpets, stories of people who stuck feathers to their arms and flew too close to the sun, travel along the Swahili coast on “ungos”, Da Vinci’s. The Wright brothers flew the first flight in 1903 and today here you are, taking off your belt and shoes at the security checkpoints at the airport so you can sit uncomfortably close to a stranger in a metal tube hurtling through the air at hundreds of kilometres per hour. And you find it mundane!

Maybe you are even reading this on a device that you carry around with you all the time, perhaps even one that communicates with your wrist “watch” which reminds you to take 10,000 steps a day? You’ve got of all things — a Gene Rodenberry TV show about space travel and the geeks who loved it to thank for that. Like the idea of robots, perhaps even androids embued with a little Artificial Intelligence to do the work and chores that we don’t want to do? Cool. We have that. It’s leading to crises in labour and wages because manufacturing is so advanced that some companies have plants which only need a handful of people to check on tech efficient enough to produce more than a human workforce could hope to in the same amount of time, but we have that.

Here is where I want to take a minute to think how my own immediate antecedents would have reacted to this world we live in today. To my chagrin I never got to show my grandmother how to text message. What would she have made of the Mars Rover’s discoveries? If I told her about computers that talk to you and even make jokes while sitting around an evening oil lamp would she have tried to exorcise me? Indistinguishable from magic indeed.

And what if I now tell you that currently scientists can and are dabbling in the one thing that most of us consider the ultimate frontier, will you think me dramatic? And perhaps see why anti-vaxxer instincts, though ‘illogical,’ from a place of prudence and perhaps even wisdom about human nature? Well, here is something that I discovered while attempting this leap of faith of an article: synthetic biology. Some things have to be seen to be believed, so here is where I invite you to take a look at this incredible presentation by author Bob Reid. Keep in mind that it took place in July of 2019, and type: how synthetic biology could wipe out the world and how we could stop it into your Tricorder (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DDgHq9ewOo).

Next week, when we’re all on the same existential crisis page, I’ll try and further the argument of why speculative fiction is part of the solution to us not extinguishing the planet. Stay safe in this third wave of Covid19.

Elsie Eyakuze is a consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report: E-mail: [email protected]