Cultural Innovation
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The Chinese do not invent anything; they only copy.
Italians design beautiful shoes, but who ever heard of a Tuscan computer programmer?
Russians dominate chess, yet cannot seem to engineer a children’s toy.
Germans excel when they control all variables — of a high-performance automobile.
The French routinely lead in technologies that require large government subsidies.
The Japanese so yearn for acceptance that individuals won’t promote a new idea without the approval of their peers.
Israel: “The brainpower of its people” is Israel’s only natural resource,”
We can start with Somali’s (you have a whole country full of miraa chewing killing machines).
How about Rwanda? with all their machete wielding interahamwe militia’s.
And Kenya? who do we have? Mungiki? SLDF? (aka “Sabaot Land Defense Force”?)
Sierra Leone: Short sleeve or Long sleeve?
I just came across an interesting article in the New York Times that discusses this issue of cultural innovation — where it comes from and how it manifests itself. Here are a list of stereotypes that the author highlights (I prefer to call them truism’s because I think that they are largely true).
There’s no mention of Africans. What do we do well? The only thing I could think of was war. Africans should export “fighters”.
It’s sad that this is the only thing you think we do best. Africa’s self esteem has been so beaten down that this is now what we think of ourselves. Common man…
I think Africa tries the hardest but gets the least recognition for trying. Africans are entrepreneurs and innovators. How else have we managed to survive on less than a dollar a day?