Leapfrog Technologies

Looking at how the successful emerging economies (read China) are doing things, I can't help but think that South Africa is missing a trick.

Leapfrogging (in terms of national policy and technology) is the process of adopting next generation technologies instead of implementing those that are currently being used by the developed world. This process would include initiatives such as renewable energy projects, and emphasis on computing and robotics programs.

China's making a big push to use these "leapfrog" technologies to get an edge over the US, and as we're soon to become part of B.R.I.C.(S), we should be following suit, yes? That would make sense? ... but no... we're still building coal based power stations, and looking to the west and Europe for our business models.

I think this is a major oversight by our "leaders", and stems from simple short-sightedness. 50-100 years from now, South Africans will be looking at the new global economic powerhouses (China, Japan, South Korea), and wondering where our development went wrong...

-Odd

"To be thrown upon one's own resources, is to be cast into the very lap of fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy of which they were previously unsusceptible" -Benjamin Franklin

Word of the Week

Prevaricate - Intransitive verb

1. To depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation

In the News

Urinal video games - .... WTF? seriously? .... actually... that could be pretty cool

First photos taken of China's new stealth fighter - yet another of America's biggest military advantages is no more

Tampa airport shuts down due to change in magnetic poles - They had to shut down the airport in order to re-mark the runway... starting to worry yet?

Wireless car-jacking - hackers to start stealing cars?

New 'non-lethal' laser designed to deter pirates - I do so love stories about laser guns :D