[ExI] [wta-talk] Designing and applying technology for the third world

Bryan Bishop kanzure at gmail.com
Sat Sep 25 18:36:05 UTC 2010


On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 1:29 PM, Ralph wrote:
> Also, if you try to put an innovation into public domain, say, on the
> Internet, it's amazing just how hostile people can become at the drop of a
> hat when you talk about some way to purify tons of water for Bangladesh, or
> generate cheap, sustainable, clean energy. I've gotten more accusations of
> being interested only in fame and fortune -- when releasing a concept for
> free, under a pseudonym -- just for throwing out some very basic designs.
> And other weird attacks, where people seemed to feel almost obliged to take
> down something good, no matter how spurious their arguments, just to make
> them feel better about themselves. (A sensitive point: An awful lot of
> people commenting on forums think of themselves an intellectual elites, but
> haven't actually written so much as a song or invented so much as an
> eggbeater. So putting out something with the complexity of a two-speed
> eggbeater really hits them where they're vulnerable.)
>
> Granted, I think there's a lot of ego problems on the Net, but I think you
> could make the case that helping the undeveloped world is at least as much a
> broad-based moral and ethical problem as it is an engineering one.

I am not really sure how to help fix that. I have encountered a number
of people that fit that description and have those similar reactons.
Further, I have had people be totally disgusted by the concept of
sharing hardware designs, because they somehow think I am screwing
myself out of untold riches and profits. There are a lot of really,
really messed up, unhealthy emotions floating around in the general
population. How to help this, fix this, or even just have usable
responses to this, is beyond me at the moment.

- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
1 512 203 0507



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