The Future of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Scenario:
Africa, Incubator of the Old and The New Code

The clock, the key invention of the modern industrial age, suggests an orderly universe that can be understood as being divided into precise mathematical units. The machine metaphor for man and nature currently rules in the West.
Clock-thinking produces terror in the Western mind that’s on its way to a late appointment (or for that matter, on the way to the millennium).
The non-Western mind thinks,
“The party starts when I get there”.
Being of both minds. I developed the following scenario:

Africa Ascendant

Global personal re-coding and technological breakthroughs propel us into a more humane world. African people pave the way for the new age, spearheading many of the changes that help make multicultural world work.

The following events line out how this scenario unfolds:

1600-1800’s: European invasions drive African systems of higher learning underground. Africa's resources power the Industrial Revolution. African nations are raided; their people are dispersed worldwide. African culture worldwide is simultaneously revered and despised.
1960’s: African nations become independent of colonial rule.
The United States in the 20th century is the great innovator nation, the incubator of new ideas, the vast majority of innovations in computer and telecommunications fields happened in the United States. Americans have shaped the core technologies and infrastructure that are the foundation of the 21st century.
Personal computers become ubiquitous, due to dropping prices, higher computing power, and social demand. Wireless telephony and the internet allow connection to a worldwide information infrastructure from anywhere on the planet. Every facet of human activity is transformed in some way by networked communications. Intercultural sharing of documents via the internet and email becomes a reality.
Encryption technologies improve and become acceptable and electronic commerce becomes a reality. A world market is delivered to the producers of goods and services that utilize the internet.
Biotechnological advances....
Agricultural advances....
1960’s to 1990’s: Through music, and music videos, African American (African) culture spreads throughout the world even to places without an African presence. Everybody's into this groove.
1997: “Hot 97: Where Hip Hop Rules the World” is the slogan of WQHT, a top radio station in New York City. Hot 97 is listened to by young people of all flavors.

Genetic researchers study mitochondrial DNA which indicates that all living humans descend from one maternal source--christened Mitochondrial Eve--who lived in Africa between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. People disregard the research findings.
Late 1990’s to 2000: Africans have permeated the entire fabric of the world economy and society. The needs and desires of African people increasingly begin to drive the political and business worlds--not just the cultural world.
Year 2000: The Human Genome Project is completed and unveiled. All human genes are mapped out. Indeed, we are all descendants of Africa! This realization, once it sinks in, creates a remarkable transformation in the thinking of all people towards Africa. Genetics has put the last nail in the coffin of racism. The “other” disappears. There is a new ethos of openness, as we all finally realize that we are all brothers and sisters, having come from the same maternal ancestor. Defining oneself by race or nationality is seen as backwards and corny. When people communicate, they just talk about where they live, their families, their work, and their interests.
By the early part of the 21st century, it becomes clear that the very skills most needed to make a networked society really hum are those that Africans have long practiced. Long before it became fashionable, Africans were developing the subtle abilities o f maintaining networks, of remaining inclusive, of negotiating. These skills prove to be crucial to solving the very difficult challenge of this new world.
There is an increase in the study of African history and culture, worldwide. Uganda, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, The Congo, Nigeria and the United States become the leading centers of study. The government of the United States is forced to re-evaluate wh at was known as the “Negro Problem”.
The African schools of higher learning that were driven underground by European invasions resurface physically and on-line. These “universities” become extremely popular among computer programmers and developers of multimedia and communications software (many who have previously studied and applied Hindu, Buddhist and Native American concepts to their work). These digital professionals travel to Africa seeking to be educated in African schools of philosophy.

Excited by the limitless possibilities of creating and developing out of another worldview, another paradigm, they train, and become initiates in the once-secret societies, engaging in rituals that allow them to see other realms. There are no boundaries between the studies of art, religion, science, technology, mythology, magic, medicine, and metaphysics. The initiates emerge out of their magic circles and sacred groves, speaking in a new code.

This new code is expressed in the software and devices developed by the programmers.

The public “adopts” this new code subliminally. Our brains are changed electrically, chemically, and physically as we interact with the newly created devices and software. Different neural pathways are set up. Others torn down.
Due to the favorable environment and business opportunities, many of the students decide to stay in Africa to live and work. Lots of multimedia and communications enterprises emerge and prosper. The entire continent convulses with business activity. Boomtowns sprout up all over the place. Uganda becomes thegreat innovator nation, the incubator of new ideas with the vast majority of innovations in new media and telecommunications happening there. Ugandans shape the core technologies an d infrastructure of the remainder of the 21st century.
This conjunction of technological innovation, genetic revelation, and cultural force favorably positions Africans in the Americas especially those in the fields of computers and telecommunications. African Americans serve as local bridges to African philosophy and know-how.

Why should I do now to prepare for Africa Ascendant?