Worse Off?

Algun was deemed one of the poorest and least technological countries in the world, but what about the countries which aren't even using online technology to increase themselves, but stripping the physical materials in order to sell parts and make a profit? in the article "High Tech Trash" by Chris Carroll, the author talks about how the people of third world areas like Ghana, Nigeria, the Ivory Coats, and parts of China risk their lives in order to strip computer parts for their value. Carroll scribes, "Today the salvagers operate in the shadows. Inside the open door of a house in a hillside village, a homeowner uses pliers to rip microchips and metal parts off a computer motherboard...'This business is illegal'...I see people tearing apart car batteries, alternators, and high voltage cable for recycling, and others hauling aluminum scrap to an aging smelter. But I find no one else working with electronics."

There is a fine line between this:



and this:



By comparison, both of the pairs of people in these pictures are growing their countries economy in some way, and they're contributing to their town. By contrast one of these pairs is doing so in a way which involves healthy education. The other pair of people is taking in toxicity at every turn and is jeopardizing their health in order to get money and boost the economy. While the men in the second people are going to get the money quicker, the boys in the first will learn how to navigate technology and become competitive in a business market. This is comparable to the capabilities approach, and leads to criticism. Are the second pair of people being put through these troubles because they were free to reject a technology update? If that is the case, then it's harming them and the academic researchers trying to help people are failing. This is all speculation to be taken into account.

Two children play an on-line game on a computer in a nearly empty Internet café. (Photo: Joel Nito / AFP-Getty Images): http://worldpress.org/Americas/2675.cfm

Men disassemble e-waste by hand in Accra, Ghana. : http://www.djc.com/news/en/12021308.html