When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: - Career - Nairaland
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| When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by lekside44(m): 9:08am On Jun 08, 2009 |
there is this saying, " necessity is the mother of inventions". Malaysia and many Asian countries became a super power in technology and manufacturing because of the level of poverty in their economy back then. it is even sad that malaysia came to nigeria to collect palm carnnel with with they build their economy and became a force to recorn with in silicon valleys. my formal HOD when granting a tv interview at mitv stated that nigeria cannot invent or discover anything since many scholars are hungry and thus cannot focus on research. america and other developed contries continue to develop technology, inventing new theories and doing a lot of wonders because the citizens do not have to think about what to eat, drink or what the futures would be. so nairalanders, please discuss |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by AjanleKoko: 11:00am On Jul 28, 2009 |
@lekside, Funny I never came across this post. It is a rather interesting topic. Truth is, your HOD was talking nonsense, pardon my strong language! As you have rightly pointed out, it is mostly during times of necessity or depression, that innovation is strongest. Look at the developed world, most of the bursts of invention occured after major humanitarian crises, e.g the Industrial Age after the Crimean war and the wars with Napoleon, the rise of Asia, particularly China, Japan and Korea, after being almost totally destroyed by the Second World War. Even the U.S. itself had its push due to various catastrophes that occured in the life of the nation. The truth is, the older generation of Nigerian intellectuals are mostly colonial-indoctrinated, and are unable to innovate. Somehow, most of them, even though they were exposed to the best of education worldwide, and did excel academically, were unable to replicate their efforts at home, or even start up the process. Somehow they simply could not apply the discipline required, and most got caught up in the profligiate lifestyle we are used to here, and lost the plot at the end. Now it doesn't mean that I blame them 100%. The polity in place unfortunately was also manipulated by the colonialists, and somehow the environment was not condusive for home-grown effort. Our British-Army legacy unitary approach to governance has imposed bureaucracy on every sector of our economy, and innovation is stifled. Most legacy organizations like the government banks (FBN, UBN), parastatals and utilities (PHCN, NITEL) are operating within a fixed monopoly mindset, which is why they have all crumbled, are totally inefficient, and, in the case of banking and telecoms, could not survive in the face of true competition. I was at this Michael Porter thing last week, and a sizeable number of government leaders were there. Porter (of the competitive strategy fame) stated clearly that our polity does not give room for competitive activities. For a nation to see itself as competitive, it must internally synergise efforts and develop an approach to meet the modern-day challenges. Which is what you see the Asians doing nowadays. Competitive strategy has ensured that a telecom service provider like Huawei has acquired major market share, unsettling the likes of Ericsson and beating everyone to roll out the very latest in telecom technology globally, while the likes of Nortel have collapsed. If we don't listen to the Enahoros and push for true federalism, I'm afraid we will continue in the woods till kingdom come. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by agabaI23(m): 1:05pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Ajanlekoko |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Nezan(m): 2:46pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
[size=18pt]Necessity is the mother of all inventions[/size] |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Epiphany(m): 2:52pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
EHENH, these are the kind of things we should be arguing about on Nairaland and not whether one tribe should 'merge' with Republic of Benin or not. These are the kind of discussions that [should] move the country forward. @AjanleKoko, i love your answer but i feel that it adds another point to what the posters HOD stated. His HOD did not talk nonsense but gave his own view of what the problem is. Yes, many scholars are hungry and cannot focus on research. Coming from a background in Nigeria's premier University, i experienced firsthand what happens to scholars when there are no research funds within the tertiary institutions to promote good research and new product developments. Now, i am based in the UK, where i worked with a university as a senior researcher. I can tell you that the gap between the University in Nigeria and the University here in the UK is so wide, that to be honest, i dont think we will EVER catch up in Nigeria. Over here, i experienced what it meant to have businesses fund research running into millions of pounds and offer academics the opportunity to consult and work with industry. Within my small research group, we assisted industry with issues such as New Product Development, creating an enabling environment for these businesses to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship as well as offering consultancy services to these businesses to make sure they optimize their operations. That is why universities like Cambridge, Harvard, Oxford have a very high turnout of Spin-Offs from their universities in terms of start up technology companies. That is the reason also, top companies the world over such as Oracle, Microsoft, Google and co usually employ PhD students from these universities to carry on their research in the R & D Departments of these multinationals. That said, things like Organizational size, External environments, Government/policy, maturity of educational sector and many more play a very important role in Innovation and entrepreneurship. Whether the economy is down or low, or high or bouyant is immaterial because with the shorteneing of the product lifecycle these days, companies the world over that do not or cannot innovate will surely die hence the new world mantra - INNOVATE OR DIE. That is why 'baby' companies like Huawei and Zte from China are giving mature companies like Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia etc a headache and run for market share. The rate at which they bring to the market, new products is alarming and the bigger western companies cannot keep up. They are bringing and have been bringing these products to the market, regardless of whether there is a world recession or not - meaning that the best time to invent is ALWAYS. Now, coming back to the problem with Nigeria. Our environment does not encourage innovation hence, like you said, all the Nigerian intellectuals are unable to innovate. The large industries we have here in Nigeria are here to make money and not to encourage any R & D. The Shells, Mobils, Unilever, Ericssons, Oracles, Ciscos, Microsofts and a multitude of others do not host any R & D labs in Nigeria because they see our economy as one that can be manipulated - or exploited (is a better term). Note that in countries like India, China, Japan, these same companies boast of R & D labs running into Millions of dollars and pounds and these are the countries - apart from US, UK, Germany etc - where a lot of new technology emanates from. The unseriousness also of our leaders to invest in education and make it mandatory for these behemoths to partner with them goes further to enable these companies exploit the situation. Afterall, a number of Nigerian academics worldwide have led various innovative research successes. Men such as Emeagwali, Gabriel Oyibo, John Dabiri (a young scholar) and thousands of other nigerians are excelling and inventing new things in their fields of study. While i was with the university in the UK, i met hundreds of Nigerian academics and lecturers who are winning prizes around the world for new and innovative research, leading to New Product Development - some of which are on their way to becoming commercial. These guys are in all sorts of fields of study, from the physical sciences, to medicine to engineering. I can guarantee that very soon, we would see more innovators in our generation coming from all these areas of study Sadly, they will come from universities in Europe, Americas and Asia. And not from Nigeria |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by rasputinn(m): 2:57pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Why should economic climate determine when to invent? |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Epiphany(m): 3:04pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
rasputinn: Because Inventions need funding (money for research and development, R&  ). Inventions need to be patented (flawless and honest legal systems). Inventions need champions (people to spread the gospel of that invention). A poor economy does not and can not promote all these things. However, it is likely that even with these flaws, inventions can still and will still happen. But more often than not, they will not make it to the big world. They will be stifled for one of the reasons above. We all remember the people that said that they invented the cure for one thing or the other. Did Nigerians not shout them down. Did anybody or organizzation come out to say, 'oya come, let us test and see if you are correct?' Nope, nobody came to their aid. Recently, there is or was a guy in court that took one of the large oil companies to court over something he invented, which that company is making millions from. The company refused to acknowledge him as the inventor and refused to pay him his royalties. I dont know what has become of this court case now. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by topup: 4:13pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
I think it has also reached a stage now where precedents are readily available for most successful countries, ours on the other hand is really bad at keeping records or glorifying those nobel Nigerian citizens that made a difference. I mean in other countries there is increased certainty of fame or acknowledgement. I mean you could have a day named after you, or even if you did not solve a problem, but you contributed to it's solution you would get a mention. We keep thinking it's too late to get placed in the "world list of great contributors", so we don't even bother. I mean after electricity was invented I am sure many people would have thought that nothing could exceed it, however the Japanese and Chinese didn't let this hinder them and then came the computer, and nothing would exceed that, then the fax machine e.t.c, If not physically inventions, we can invent ploicing strategies, ways to maximise oil revenue, with our country still in it's baby phase, we could be developing techniques to make sure our infrastructure is one of the best in world, but yet we continue to build some ilogical roads. I know I am generalising certain aspects, but when it comes to discussions about this topic I feel like I'm in the role of an adult that's pestering and nagging a child to 'shape up', and stop misbehaving. Another issue is that I don't believe that the government supports this field of inventing of coming up innovative responses. We would rather get Chinese companies to build our roads and buildings in prominent areas or support the build of several American-style homes than to invest in nurturing home grown talent. What a shame. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by ibelab(m): 4:27pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
hi guys! This is the best topic i ever come across here waoooo! u guys really got a point here.This is what we need, not some tribal argument,  where all the guys on NL? |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by MrCrackles(m): 4:38pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
rasputinn: I wonder ooo! |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Epiphany(m): 4:49pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
ibelab: You see now? When it comes to intellectual arguements, no one wants to answer. If we are arguing on why the Hausa's or Ijaws do not deserve a petroleum university, this thread go reach 4 pages. Anyway, i was also thinking that until our government (or the private sector) sees the importance in upgrading our tertiary facilities, we will continue to wallow in the mud. Based on my earlier post, i just realised that even though a lot of Nigerians are excelling and will continue to excel in foreign universities owing to their ground breaking innovations, the recognition and royalty will not be Nigerian. The royalty and recognition will go to the institution and then the individual. Further grants and monies will continue going towards them to continually encourage them to build upon the initial successes. Gone are the days when we had research institutes like NIFOR et al that lead the way in innovative products and processes. I read the other day that IITA, another agricultural institute, is contemplating leaving Nigeria for another country - where the environment is more condusive for research. They claimed that what the Federal Government was supposed to give them as their share of contributions towards research has been outstanding for years now. Other than that, the institute has to generate their own power. They have to manage their own water supply. They have to import all their research equipment even up to certain chemicals and reagents. This also brings to mind the supposed battle that the FG is waging against the Oil Firms in Nigeria, concerning the Local Content thing. They want to be able to allow a certain percentage of local players to supply and implement various engineering processes within that sector. This is a typical example of something that will allow our technological prowess grow. If this happens, and there is some funding for the providers, they can improve upon their local equipment and begin to innovate and manufacture goods. But what has happened thus far? For years now, this push has come to naught. Who is being insincere here? The FG or the Multinational companies? Our private sector is not left out. Big local players like the Banks, Glo, Zenon are flying below the radar. Yes, they may award scholarships to some students sometimes, but are they investing in research institutes? Do they produce anything that needs fine tuning? Do they award research grants to universities or tertiary institutes to do anything? At least, we can say that they all implement some form of digital technology or the other. Would they not rather import ready made stuff to use? We have a very long way to go and the journey has not even started. By the way, is ASUU still on strike? |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Bontee: 5:07pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
This is the kind of topic that should be discussed on nairaland |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by ubine(m): 5:18pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Yes. I THINK THIS IS THE BEST TOPIC EVER IN NAIRALAND Come to think of it actually we have more of hungry scholars but i tell you thier are still good scholars who really value research/invention. but its so funny that the government do not see the value to encourage them by this means it only help kill invention in Nigeria. Believe me I have hard,read,seen how the government are killing the effort of some scientist in this country even after invention e.g King Rev. Dr. Clement John Adiamiko Uwemedimo The True Inventor and Sole Patentee of the Non-Convention Patent No. RP 13522 Anti Corrosive special paint for Q.I.T Talk about the schools no good facilities for this purpose, those who have make an impact inthis respect are those who studied abroad. that is why the present ASSU STRIKE to an extent make sense. WE NEED INVENTION AND ITS ONLY NOW. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by hackney(m): 5:18pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Person say na ijaw petroleum university Anyway: The current mind state of the average Nigerian (residing in nigeria) is not one that would initiate an invention or even facilitate an on-going one. The most influential aspect of any nation or governance which is the Political state, will (in my opinion)usually set the pace for any innovative prowess of that nation and even down to individuals. This means that they will usually facilitate competence and incentives in the university-affiliated research outfits by funding and instituting tranparent patent policies to acknowledge and even rate the universities to stimulate competition. If the Government is as riddled with corruption as it currently is,then how will indigienes think about making inventions when it is likely to end up being a thankless job or even taken away by larger multi-nationals like someone mentioned in an earlier post. There is neither the infrastructural support nor appropriate state of mind to make any reasonable inventions in Nigeria, This fact is butressed by the fact that the nigerians that invent viable products, processes,policies or systems are the ones in Diaspora. The average student is from the onset disillusioned and aware of the fact that hard work may not pay off unless you know someone. It is a well known fact that we are able to compete with the best of them out here but believe me that if those same people who have made cutting edge inventions were back in nigeria, they would be either busy avoiding the various numerous life threatening situations or even looking for basic daily bread. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Beaf: 5:31pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
There is nothing to encourage inventing in Africa. Our societies kill the spirit of inventors and make it impossible for their dreams to materialise so they head of to the West or turn to crime. From personal experience, friends, neighbours, acquaintances, other fellow country men and women are the first to beat you down when you invent something; "when oyimbo never make am, na you go fit make am"?  The Nigerian patent system is almost non-existent, no one wants to subject their invention to scrutiny by corrupt individuals, especially as patents are awarded to the first to come forward. Nigeria has blindly copied the patent system without applying our local circumstances to it. So Nigerian inventors with the werewithal run off to the US or Europe to obtain patent protection. A single US patent costs in the region of half a million Naira, what poor person can come up with this? If your patent is infringed, it can cost up to (and above) a hundreds million dollars  to defend it in court; how many Nigerians can cough that up.Contrary to what some are stating here, the brilliant mind does not need R& and to invent (that is for accidental inventions). R& is more useful for polishing existing inventions; the giant leap comes from the individual mind.If this individual mind is nourished and taken care of, wonders will follow. Those wonders can then be funnelled out to the R& institutions like FIIRO etc.Some people here, out of ignorance are thinking that Nigerian (or African) politics can be divorced from our lack of inventions. Within the current frameworks, the simple answer is that it can't and we will continue to be poor countries with 3rd rate science and technology. Me and a couple of others are coming up with ways that should empower African inventors at the grassroots, as well as bring development and scientific thought to the grassroots. Unforetunately, we do not have a website yet, but that is being worked on. Working at grassroot level is the only way to escape the backward effects of regional politics. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Epiphany(m): 5:42pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Beaf: I do not agree where you say a brilliant mind does not need R& . I may agree that Development is for polishing existing inventions but Research is a primary ingridient in any invention or innovation. Research, being a search for knowledge or a systematic means of establishing something, is the foundation for any innovation anywhere in the world. It does not have to be anything formal but can be in a very informal setting. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Beaf: 6:11pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Epiphany: When I say R& , I'm talking about instituitions like NIFOR, FIIRO etc or a commercial firms R& unit (e.g. Microsoft). Research in theis sense, is about improving either existing technology, theory or an existing invention. Inventions on the other hand are created by geniuses 100% of the time.R& can provide an enabling enviroment for the inventor, but is not nessecary for the inventor. Thomas Alva Edison, the greatest inventor of all time didn't need R&, yet registered over 1000 patents.This is a list of inventors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventors. You will find that they tend to be independent; in that sense, I agree with you that the inventor does need some form of research, even if informal. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by AjanleKoko: 6:33pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Guys, Let me tell you a story someone once told me. A lecturer some years back in one of our premier universities here, had an idea for some research. To fund it, he sold his personal car and started walking. Everyone, students and faculty alike, laughed at him. Eventually, as I hear it, the guy sold his idea to a blue-chip oil and gas service organization, and became a permanent consultant to them. That is, while his colleagues were still laughing at him. I guess they soon stopped laughing! Now again, if you went to school when I went to school, here in Nigeria, and studied engineering, you would see that all the profs were always clued up to one World Bank project or the other. The only thing we ever saw were flashy jeeps, and these guys were always in and out of Nigeria. My conclusion then was. . . either the research or whatever activity these profs were involved in was for another country, or these guys were as usual 'enjoying', Naija-style. So you can see why I'm a bit challenged to agree with that 'hungry scholar' stance. Just exactly how hungry are these guys? I agree government has a major role to play, but. . . what have these guys even done, ex-government? |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Nnenna1(f): 6:34pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Good topic Inventive minds usually circumvent obstacles in the course of discovery or creation - I dare say that difficulty and frustration (LACK, in short) births genius. The poster who quoted necessity as the mother of invention is right. A cliche has never been truer. Which is why I don't 100% agree with encouraging invention (or I should say invention in the real sense?). Many of the greatest achievements/discoveries were actually ridiculed, suppressed and seen as "out of place" with their times. Now, what should be encouraged is the potential at childhood, the mind for discovery in the first place. How parents raise their children, the school system, and societal beliefs play a very crucial role. From a very young age, children are stifled in many ways - the penchant for thinking outside the box is destroyed by the time naija parents have whip-lashed their young'uns with koboko one too many times. School is no different. The majority of our teachers are monotonous. If not monotonous, sadistic (you know what I mean). Students only learn by rote memorization and quotation, not by understanding or mental association. We then become a nation of majority block-heads and child-adults. And then we marvel when outsiders create miracles in our homelands. Thing is, even if infrastructure and other tangible necessities were improved 100-fold in our institutions, we would still miss the main point. I don't know if what I'm trying to explain came out right. But the gist of it all is: The biggest obstacle for creativity and discovery? Fear. And our children have to deal with a lot of it. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Nobody: 6:53pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
It is only when our kids are encouraged to ask questions that their creative potential can be unleashed. As the last poster said being creative has little to do with 'government funding' but something which occurs naturally,even spontaneously. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by hackney(m): 7:06pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Is it agreeable that an individual can have some ingenious ideas but nowhere whatsoever to do any level of testing? As a result ideas are likely to die as that; just ideas. I have a strong belief that there is always ample indigenous potential in Nigeria, but galvanising inventive ideas become stifled by abject lack of infrastructure (or even basic direction in terms of where to go from there) |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by oraaye: 7:08pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Hmm! Invention. , Our problem is not money, we've got enough of it. I guess it is not knowledge, we export such and give it as gift to other countries, our lack of invention is tied to one fundamental issue, JUSTICE. This land is Bleeding with INJUSTICE.It Permeates every fibre and strata of our lives so it does only one thing Kill Innovation. Until the just is given is due we will continue to ask questions like this.  |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Nobody: 7:22pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
It is self- deception for some of nigeria's work-shy lecturers to talk as if the top physicists, chemists and mathematicians in the West are primarily motivated by money. As a matter of fact they are motivated by love for their subject the desire to make ground breaking discoveries in their chosen fields. Most of them could have certainly earned much more money for themselves if they had gone into the private sector after their bachelor's degree. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by leighcon(m): 7:27pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Dear all, This is one topic worthy of bringing a "si don look" Nlander back to contributing to threads. @lekside44 - Good thought for bringing this topic to fore. @AjanleKoko - Kudos for digging out this topic posted more than a month ago, I must say I have read your posts in the past and you expouse one thing we share - Positive thoughts (Ko ni tan nibe oo) People!, the common saying is that "necessity is the mother of inventions" I will be changing that to what can best explain inventions we have seen, here mine goes "necessity and curiousity are the mother of inventions" Necessity explains inventions at the times of discomfort while Curiusity explains for inventions at the times of comfort. That is why less developed and developed nations keep having reasons to invent. Back to my motherland - Why are we not inventing? Well the straight answer to that is that we are not at work at solving our own domestic problems. And why are we not solving our problems (1) Our colonial experience has deprived us a lot - if you look at it the whites indeed left a long time ago but some elites simply stepped into their shoes and continued where they stopped while the non - elites keep struggling be new elites one day. (2) The foregoing made us lose a national culture, whereby individuals do not think of Nigeria rather think of ourselves and our own lineage of generations coming behind. It is the symptom of the second that we keep seeing in other spheres - This is why a lot of people never learn to queue in any place, we keep looking for people we know at the counter, we prefer to bribe a PHCN official to help adjust our postpaid bill rather than insist on him taking the right readings which we can both work out and arrive at the actual bill, andf the PHCN official keeps discouraging you about the prepaid metre because he knows there won't be cuts for him anymore. Parents helping children to cheat in exams right from primary school these days. All those tend to make an average Nigerian think that nothing is achievable except regular route is bypassed and noboby then wants to trust anybody with anything. The people who attempt a normal route are called slackers and discouraged. Way forward A positive change is required in every individual, we need to all have a positive outlook to situations and you should start by not thinking that you never got that job because you did not know somebody or that WAEC failed you. My thinking is that if 50+1% of Nigerians wake up one day and do things the right way then an immediate change will be observed for that day. How soon we can have this possibility looks like it gets longer by the day because the big man politician is still stealing and the begger is still disguising to steal as well. I can only ask you to start the change by not throwing out dirts on the street from your car else you are still one of those pulling us back. Am sorry for boring you by bringing up varying issues but then how are we going to have inventions when we have not changed - very impossible! |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Twy: 7:55pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Beaf, I think R& D is still important for improving on existing technology which constitutes the bulk of modern day invention ca post 1950 when electricity, the telephones and how to process oil and other solid minerals had been discovered. Also, research and development may stimulate young minds which I think consitute the bulk of ancient and modern inventions. Example are the google guys who worked with Stanford and also the Yahoo gues also from Stanford. On a general note, the issue of invention can also be seen from a youthful standpoint where minds are still open to new experiments, ideas or thoughts, and not rigid thoughts. Many great ideas and inventions are generated by people in their twenties and early thirties. The mindset of the youths in the country and how the older scientists can motivate their minds is also important. I think the situation whereby we have money hungry parents andgraduates (i.e everyone chasing after oil and gas or banking jobs) may be a problem in the long term. Most NIgerian innnovations and discoveries from the sector have been made and done by foreign technology a sore point in NNPC history and also in the banking sector it is all about marketing and generating funds. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Epiphany(m): 8:48pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Beaf: Oh ok. I see where you are coming from now! However, with reference to your list, i noticed that there are no Sub-Saharan Africans listed as in, we Africans do not have any inventors on the list. How sad. There is only one South African (White South African) there and a few Egyptians. I sincerely hope that in the years to come, when people are making a list of notable global inventions, we black Africans will find a place therein. This means that all of us have work to do  |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by stmanpule(m): 9:13pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
no comment plz |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by canuck(m): 9:15pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
1) When it comes to education, Nigerians are certificate-focused, not application-focused. That's why the banks are full of (potentially world-class) Engineers, Computer Scientists, Public Health Professionals, Educators, etc, who are chasing accounts and deposits. 2) Our lecturers are not looking to develop minds, and have students challenge the status-quo. All lecturers are interested in is selling hand-outs (or what are they selling these days?), taking bribes for grades and engaging in sexual escapades with students. Mind you, I lived my first 20 years on major University campuses from late 70s to the 90s. 3) Education is expendable to the government of Nigeria (Universities may be shut down for as long as possible; it does not matter). How may innovation flow from citizens of a country afflicted by these three plagues above (just to mention a few)? In the words of Kevin Carroll, "We have allowed our creative muscle to atrophy." Nija no go spoil o! |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by walakolobo: 9:18pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
@Poster Ask yourself- The people that invented the aeroplane, what pushed them? The peolple that invented motor cars - were they poor, hungry and battered? Use your head. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by MrCrackles(m): 9:28pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
walakolobo: Will you shut up TUMFULU. . .  Who invited you to this thread? WALAKOLOBO OLORIKOLOBO! |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Beaf: 9:38pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Another mistake we make is to think that those who have PhD’s or Doctorates are the supreme authorities in their chosen areas. Usually, these people are the very peak of intellect as far as the status quo goes. Where they innovate, it is usually within established "tradition" in their fields. Revolutionary new ideas are introduced by outsiders with fresh eyes. Bill Gates was a drop-out law student; today, there are enough innovations to both his name and his company's name (Microsoft). The point I'm making here, is that we put so much premium on title back home. So much that we snuff out the voices of those who might lack education but, nevertheless are geniuses. As an example, the greatest inventor of all time, Thomas Alva Edison pulled out of formal education after just 3 months when his teacher referred to him as "addled" (mentally confused). Yet Thomas Edison is responsible for practically everything we now take for granted - from microphones to recorded music to matches to electric lighting. . . The list is almost unending. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison We need to be able to fish out geniuses no matter where they are and support them. We really cannot wait for moribund governments to begin this process. |
| Re: When Best Do We Invent? During Necessity Or When Economy Is Buoyant: by Beaf: 9:59pm On Jul 28, 2009 |
Twy: You are right about R& . It is useful for formalising discoveries and channelling them to different consumers e.g. video's and magazines to interest kids, popular science books, textbooks, science papers etc. R& is also useful for sparking ideas in the minds of lateral thinkers.Inventions tend to be made by younger people for a number of reasons (the ones that immediately come to mind are; they don't yet have many responsibilities and they aren't yet set in their ways). Regardless of what the reasons are, we should be able to spot and nuture genius from early childhood. |
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