A bit off topic from the video, but in January of 2020 I went to Rwanda for a 2 week college course and even recognized some of the places in the video, it really is as wonderful as he says it is....
A bit off topic from the video, but in January of 2020 I went to Rwanda for a 2 week college course and even recognized some of the places in the video, it really is as wonderful as he says it is. Easily the most beautiful place I had ever been and likely ever will be. If you ever get the chance, I would highly recommend going, especially since theyre making tourism one of their primary industries.
It seems to me that there is a lot to like about the various people and societies in Africa. I honestly can't think of any of the people who I have met and had conversations with who were born and...
It seems to me that there is a lot to like about the various people and societies in Africa. I honestly can't think of any of the people who I have met and had conversations with who were born and raised in the continent who haven't volunteered a story about how great their homeland is or how nice the people are.
Unfortunately our news and history books are only full of the negative things and don't talk much about the wealth of positive things that have also happened; there are always tons of stories about people living in shacks and wearing the clothes that didn't sell well in rich countries, but there aren't many stories about the places with booming industrial economies of their own, the many positive social changes they've made within their communities and countries, or the innovations they've come up with to solve their own unique problems.
I like the idea of visiting Rwanda, but it's proximity to the equator and the presumed hot weather is enough to keep me away. :P
I think that Rwanda is quite exceptional, and a lot of its exceptionality stems from how it chose its path after its devastating genocide. Despite its poverty and historic violence, today it is...
Exemplary
I think that Rwanda is quite exceptional, and a lot of its exceptionality stems from how it chose its path after its devastating genocide. Despite its poverty and historic violence, today it is one of the safest and cleanest, if not the safest and cleanest, countries in Africa — which goes to show that a lot can be accomplished in 30 years.
Rwanda is also a fascinating case study in sociocultural engineering.
For example, all able-bodied Rwandans, ages 18 to 65, are mandated to participate in a civil conscription scheme called Umuganda on the last Saturday of every month, in which they do community work like cleanup. The intention behind it was to foster unity and solidarity between Rwandans.
I find myself fascinated by Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president / de facto (benevolent?) dictator, who looks to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father, as a model and has explicitly stated that he wants Rwanda to become the "Singapore of Africa". On the hand, his economic and social policies have led Rwanda out of dark times into becoming a remarkably stable and cohesive society, not just by African standards but by world standards. On the other hand, there's strong evidence that he has assassinated several of his rivals and critics.
Rwanda and Singapore have given me a lot to think about civic culture in the US. I observe that in the US there is excessive emphasis on civil liberties, individual rights, and what society owes to us; but little or no discourse around social obligations and what we owe to society and each other. There's even opposition to things like mandatory volunteerism.
I believe that this is a significant contributor to societal decay — little binds us together besides our birth in the same arbitrarily defined area of land and our consumption of the same products and media. (And we're not really consuming the same media anymore.) In lieu of a civic culture, we have an individualist consumer culture.
Having lived the past several years in Singapore (including pre-pandemic), while I generally enjoy it here, I wouldn’t categorize the population as civic-minded at all. Behavior is very much...
Having lived the past several years in Singapore (including pre-pandemic), while I generally enjoy it here, I wouldn’t categorize the population as civic-minded at all.
Behavior is very much driven primarily by the letter of what the law requires/forbids and how likely one is to get caught in a particular situation. For example, the gov had to implement a fine just to get people to being their finished trays/dishes to the return points in food courts and there was (and is) a big stink about it. Despite existing fines, there’s very little concern for the local environment, with actions like frequent animal feeding, very little recycling, and plenty of littering (followed by an army of underpaid foreign workers to keep the place clean). All male citizens must serve 2 years of national military service plus ongoing annual reservist, and I’ve yet to come across someone with a positive view of the requirement. There is a general mind-your-own-business attitude when it comes to helping or simply interacting with relative strangers (including neighbors). Any dispute, inconvenience, or annoyance about anything at all and people go straight to the authorities instead of trying to work it out first. I could go on, but you get the idea.
This is one of the biggest gripes I have as an outsider looking at the US. Everything is always about calling the cops or suing somebody. Everything has to be a law because nobody can make a...
Rwanda and Singapore have given me a lot to think about civic culture in the US. I observe that in the US there is excessive emphasis on civil liberties, individual rights, and what society owes to us; but little or no discourse around social obligations and what we owe to society and each other
This is one of the biggest gripes I have as an outsider looking at the US. Everything is always about calling the cops or suing somebody. Everything has to be a law because nobody can make a decision by themselves that's not egoistical. It's almost childish. There's absolutely no personal responsibility or social obligations to make society work together.
On the hand, his economic and social policies have led Rwanda out of dark times into becoming a remarkably stable and cohesive society, not just by African standards but by world standards. On the other hand, there's strong evidence that he has assassinated several of his rivals and critics.
OK I admittedly laughed when I read this. It seemed so casual.
I was about to publish this earlier today but opted out because I couldn't decide if it was an advertisement or not. Maybe I am just not used to feeling that hopeful about technology. It's a...
I was about to publish this earlier today but opted out because I couldn't decide if it was an advertisement or not. Maybe I am just not used to feeling that hopeful about technology. It's a beautiful story on many levels and deserves to be seen. I'm glad you posted it.
That's a really interesting question in this specific case, I've been pondering it since I watched it yesterday. Did Mark get paid to say nice things about Zipline? No. So it's not a paid...
I couldn't decide if it was an advertisement or not
That's a really interesting question in this specific case, I've been pondering it since I watched it yesterday.
Did Mark get paid to say nice things about Zipline? No. So it's not a paid advertisement.
Mark is highlighting one specific company to an audience of millions and saying very nice things about them. Is it an unpaid advertisement? However Mark isn't selling anything, and Zipline doesn't offer a product or service that the majority of his audience is likely to purchase directly. So it's PR.
I think it feels weird here because while Mark has done company highlights in the past, it's not really what he's known for. So this feels awkward and out of place, even though he's promoting a company doing objectively good things in the world with some honestly really neat tech.
I don't really consider this a commercial because as someone who dabbles in engineering I can absolutely understand why he'd be obsessed with this kind of thing. That being said, I can understand...
I don't really consider this a commercial because as someone who dabbles in engineering I can absolutely understand why he'd be obsessed with this kind of thing. That being said, I can understand the apprehension; compared to the other businesses he has covered in the past, this one feels the most "commercial"; they aren't making drones that regrow forests or make drinking water more accessible, they are a delivery company who are more concretely looking to make money off of their venture. Their operation in Rwanda is saving people's lives, and that's always good, but it's very clearly not done entirely out of the goodness of their hearts.
On the other hand, I wouldn't discount people who make money off of their ventures if they are legitimately making the world a better place. Altruism is great, but it's not always a requirement.
This is amazing. The potential for time sensitive deliveries of blood and organs are awesome enough as it is. But it looks like they figured out a cool way to deliver tacos that doesn't seem...
This is amazing. The potential for time sensitive deliveries of blood and organs are awesome enough as it is. But it looks like they figured out a cool way to deliver tacos that doesn't seem annoying as heck and is also more energy efficient and speedy than any other approach I've heard of.
Someday I won't enjoy the skies buzzing with these things all day every day I'm sure. And who knows how well it will work with a lot of traffic in densely populated areas. But that's a separate problem.
Nice to hear back from Zipline. Been following them since the beginning and they really seem like a great company.
Quite the ad for Rwanda that was!
A bit off topic from the video, but in January of 2020 I went to Rwanda for a 2 week college course and even recognized some of the places in the video, it really is as wonderful as he says it is. Easily the most beautiful place I had ever been and likely ever will be. If you ever get the chance, I would highly recommend going, especially since theyre making tourism one of their primary industries.
It seems to me that there is a lot to like about the various people and societies in Africa. I honestly can't think of any of the people who I have met and had conversations with who were born and raised in the continent who haven't volunteered a story about how great their homeland is or how nice the people are.
Unfortunately our news and history books are only full of the negative things and don't talk much about the wealth of positive things that have also happened; there are always tons of stories about people living in shacks and wearing the clothes that didn't sell well in rich countries, but there aren't many stories about the places with booming industrial economies of their own, the many positive social changes they've made within their communities and countries, or the innovations they've come up with to solve their own unique problems.
I like the idea of visiting Rwanda, but it's proximity to the equator and the presumed hot weather is enough to keep me away. :P
I think that Rwanda is quite exceptional, and a lot of its exceptionality stems from how it chose its path after its devastating genocide. Despite its poverty and historic violence, today it is one of the safest and cleanest, if not the safest and cleanest, countries in Africa — which goes to show that a lot can be accomplished in 30 years.
Rwanda is also a fascinating case study in sociocultural engineering.
For example, all able-bodied Rwandans, ages 18 to 65, are mandated to participate in a civil conscription scheme called Umuganda on the last Saturday of every month, in which they do community work like cleanup. The intention behind it was to foster unity and solidarity between Rwandans.
I find myself fascinated by Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president / de facto (benevolent?) dictator, who looks to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father, as a model and has explicitly stated that he wants Rwanda to become the "Singapore of Africa". On the hand, his economic and social policies have led Rwanda out of dark times into becoming a remarkably stable and cohesive society, not just by African standards but by world standards. On the other hand, there's strong evidence that he has assassinated several of his rivals and critics.
Rwanda and Singapore have given me a lot to think about civic culture in the US. I observe that in the US there is excessive emphasis on civil liberties, individual rights, and what society owes to us; but little or no discourse around social obligations and what we owe to society and each other. There's even opposition to things like mandatory volunteerism.
I believe that this is a significant contributor to societal decay — little binds us together besides our birth in the same arbitrarily defined area of land and our consumption of the same products and media. (And we're not really consuming the same media anymore.) In lieu of a civic culture, we have an individualist consumer culture.
Having lived the past several years in Singapore (including pre-pandemic), while I generally enjoy it here, I wouldn’t categorize the population as civic-minded at all.
Behavior is very much driven primarily by the letter of what the law requires/forbids and how likely one is to get caught in a particular situation. For example, the gov had to implement a fine just to get people to being their finished trays/dishes to the return points in food courts and there was (and is) a big stink about it. Despite existing fines, there’s very little concern for the local environment, with actions like frequent animal feeding, very little recycling, and plenty of littering (followed by an army of underpaid foreign workers to keep the place clean). All male citizens must serve 2 years of national military service plus ongoing annual reservist, and I’ve yet to come across someone with a positive view of the requirement. There is a general mind-your-own-business attitude when it comes to helping or simply interacting with relative strangers (including neighbors). Any dispute, inconvenience, or annoyance about anything at all and people go straight to the authorities instead of trying to work it out first. I could go on, but you get the idea.
/cc @elcuello
This is one of the biggest gripes I have as an outsider looking at the US. Everything is always about calling the cops or suing somebody. Everything has to be a law because nobody can make a decision by themselves that's not egoistical. It's almost childish. There's absolutely no personal responsibility or social obligations to make society work together.
OK I admittedly laughed when I read this. It seemed so casual.
I was about to publish this earlier today but opted out because I couldn't decide if it was an advertisement or not. Maybe I am just not used to feeling that hopeful about technology. It's a beautiful story on many levels and deserves to be seen. I'm glad you posted it.
That's a really interesting question in this specific case, I've been pondering it since I watched it yesterday.
Did Mark get paid to say nice things about Zipline? No. So it's not a paid advertisement.
Mark is highlighting one specific company to an audience of millions and saying very nice things about them. Is it an unpaid advertisement? However Mark isn't selling anything, and Zipline doesn't offer a product or service that the majority of his audience is likely to purchase directly. So it's PR.
I think it feels weird here because while Mark has done company highlights in the past, it's not really what he's known for. So this feels awkward and out of place, even though he's promoting a company doing objectively good things in the world with some honestly really neat tech.
I don't really consider this a commercial because as someone who dabbles in engineering I can absolutely understand why he'd be obsessed with this kind of thing. That being said, I can understand the apprehension; compared to the other businesses he has covered in the past, this one feels the most "commercial"; they aren't making drones that regrow forests or make drinking water more accessible, they are a delivery company who are more concretely looking to make money off of their venture. Their operation in Rwanda is saving people's lives, and that's always good, but it's very clearly not done entirely out of the goodness of their hearts.
On the other hand, I wouldn't discount people who make money off of their ventures if they are legitimately making the world a better place. Altruism is great, but it's not always a requirement.
Related thread from the CEO of Zipline: https://twitter.com/ryanzip/status/1636107658204975104
This is amazing. The potential for time sensitive deliveries of blood and organs are awesome enough as it is. But it looks like they figured out a cool way to deliver tacos that doesn't seem annoying as heck and is also more energy efficient and speedy than any other approach I've heard of.
Someday I won't enjoy the skies buzzing with these things all day every day I'm sure. And who knows how well it will work with a lot of traffic in densely populated areas. But that's a separate problem.
Their quiet propeller innovation (he explains it around 14:00) is simply brilliant. It'll make drones much more palatable for everyday use.