Africa was subjugated not because we had weak culture or that were bad people, but because we were technologically inferior. The path forward is not to fall back into that same mistake, this requires embracing technological advancements.
History has shown us this pattern time and again. Yet, today, many of you consider technology as nothing more than a game or a series of upgrades. I don’t entirely blame you. The only technologists you likely encounter are the people repairing your computers, TVs, and phones. You don't see the deeper layers, the thought leaders shaping the very fabric of society. And I don’t blame them either—it’s far from our collective subconscious.
We live in an information age. Open, active research is readily available, yet we constantly excuse ourselves from diving deeper. If someone genuinely seeks to understand the diverse impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), for instance, there’s no shortage of rich, well-articulated material available beyond TikTok or the occasional meme.
Names like Geoffrey Hinton, Ilya Sutskever, and Sam Altman are not just entrepreneurial figures—they’re leading researchers in AI. Even listening to a full interview or lecture by them can illuminate key issues, broadening your perspective far beyond sensationalist soundbites.
Let’s be honest: even Wikipedia, flawed as it may be, offers more depth than a random social media scroll. So why do we settle for shallow snippets? If you can sit through a romance film or binge-watch a series, surely, you can manage a one-hour lecture. Public lectures are accessible, often free, and thoughtfully crafted to engage and inform.
I’m not suggesting you scour academic journals or hunt for expensive books. Many of you may not afford that luxury. But there’s no excuse not to seek out comprehensive, publicly available talks. Stop depending on bite-sized, contextless 30-second clips. They do nothing but dilute the significance of transformative ideas.
This isn’t a call to become experts overnight but a plea to seek understanding. Because ignorance—especially in the age of information—is a choice. Let’s choose differently.
Bbumba,
January 2025