From: GBurch1@aol.com
Date: Fri Mar 10 2000 - 16:01:05 MST
In a message dated 3/4/00 4:05:41 PM Central Standard Time,
bbrown@transcient.com writes:
> A laudable goal, and I expect that social engineering by philanthropists
> would be better than social engineering by the local dictator. However, I
> still think this is a flawed approach. It falls afoul of the same problems
> of perverse incentives and information flow that prevent command economies
> from working. As I said before, the fact that a net connection is
immensely
> useful to us does not mean that it is the best thing an illiterate farmer
in
> Zimbabwe could spend his $200 on. The optimal investment is different for
> each individual, and no outside organization will be able to make the best
> choice (or even an especially good one) consistently.
I get your point and largely agree. However, I think you may be missing the
problem of the "low-level equilibrium trap".
> IMHO, the best thing a philanthropist can possibly do to help the world's
> poor is to give them the capital to help themselves. And, since handouts
> only encourage dependency, the best ways to do that is to invest in local
> businesses. If you want to bring the internet to the Third World, the
> optimal method would be to establish a profitable business that sets up
> shared net connections of some kind. If you want to be more flexible than
> that, get into the micro-loan business.
As you've seen me write here before, I heartly endorse the micro-loan concept
as one of the very best ways that the more developed world can help the
less-developed. However, I still have a sneaking suspicion that a little
"level-jumping" aid might be able to assist large portions of humanity to
leap-frog intermediate developmental stages . . . admittedly, fuzzy thinking
. . .
Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide
http://users.aol.com/gburch1 -or- http://members.aol.com/gburch1
ICQ # 61112550
"We never stop investigating. We are never satisfied that we know
enough to get by. Every question we answer leads on to another
question. This has become the greatest survival trick of our species."
-- Desmond Morris
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