Re:Superintelligence: The Idea That Eats Smart People
by cbr on Thursday December 22, 2016 @08:29PM
(#13242070)
This isn't the US, but cell phones make M-Pesa possible, which is very positive: http://www.jefftk.com/suri2014.pdf http://www.jefftk.com/suri2016.pdf
To be clear, it's good that people have access to the internet and all the interconnectivity that it brings. I'm not slamming the basic premise.
What I'm angry about is the opportunity cost. Telecoms & ISPs roll out bare minimums and say "hey look, now poor people can [cherry-picked thing that doesn't alleviate poverty]" when the real question is how we live in the most prosperous nation of all time, in an era when we have solved every basic necessity, and kids still experience food insecurity in American cities. Meanwhile, telecom CEOs merge back into monopolies.
Dramatic improvement in the lives of the poor would yield better metrics than a 30% increase in Haitians using mobile banking. Christ, half of that increase could be from unconnected citizens dying from endemic disease & reducing the denominator.