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From: TEDtalksDirector
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  • awesome name

  • I AM HAPPY THAT MR. TUROK IS DOING WHAT HE IS DOING CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT AFRICA FELL DUE TO EUROPEAN AND ARAB INVASIONS IN THE EARLY 5TH CENTURY TO PRESENT DAY. AFRAKA GAVE BIRTH TO ALL OF THE CIVILIZATIONS ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET AND IS THE BIRTHPLACE OF NOT ONLY OUR HIGH MATHEMATICS SUCH AS CALCULUS, BASE 8 AND BASE 20, BUT ARCHITECTURE, ASTRONOMY, ETC. NEVERTHELESS I COMMEND MR. TUROK ON HIS ACADEMIC ENDEAVOR ACROSS THE MOTHERLAND. AFRAKA WILL AGAIN BECOME THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!!

  • @RealDeal901 PROBABLY NOT, BUT HE IS A GREAT THEORETICAL PHYSICIST. BY THE WAY, YOUR CAPS LOCK WAS ON.

  • This man is incredible. This is exactly how Africa should develop

  • lol

    Yep...those Africans sure are brilliant. If only we would send them billions of dollars in aid...oh wait, we already do.

    if only we would open all our countries to them as refugees, they would get PhDs and lead they way....oh, wait...they still don't.

    face it: intelligence has it's basis in genetics. Africans don't hold up.

  • i was listening hawking's dawkins' videos on youtube then i met this man he was just smiling at people who say there is no god or there is god ( in my sense) .anyway i really liked this big-hearted man

  • touches our hearts by doing

  • I would like one cosmologist to tell me why things move?

  • I AM TUROK!

  • I know African kids who never went to school and who are engineers and scientists, they just die out and you never hear from them, but if they had investment and formal education they would surpass Einstein.

  • @Gutsyndicate lol

  • the title should rather have been "a black einstein"

  • Turok is a great scientist! The fact that he's a director of the Perimeter institute speaks bags about his talent.

  • sounds wonderful if they don't destroy all of the cultures like they have for hundreds of years. I find it very difficult to trust whites, considering the outcomes of every country they've conquered. Honest scientists, perhaps, but their funders have ominous plans. Hear that some parts of africa have been cleansed of all blacks and whites are now living in those places. white supremacists sites speak of africa being wasted on the africans. I can only hope the african governments aren't gullible

  • @ddsharper : TRUSTING WHITES IS BIOLOGICALLY-IMPOSSIBLE! IT CAN'T BE DONE! Blacks Have to Wake Up Fast...CAUCASIANS ARE BEAST-GRAFT-Biologicially & Are Also Consciously Trapped In A Kind Of Body By The Abino-Graft. Elephant/Pig/Ape/Reptilian Mix...Hence They Are Jekyl[Beast] & Hyde[Conscious]. Blacks En Masse Have ONE-NATURE=CONSCIOUS-PINEAL-CO­NE=Ptah..Whites Need Black People To Survive Not As Their Host But As Their Guest, Superioirty Flipped In Their Favour Through Duping Us Out Of Our Naure!

  • @Standardfrank wow. well stated. africans in for yet another mass rape with asians joining. building roads in tanzania. check out worldfocus d0t0rg.

  • @ddsharper ~2. Whites Require Blacks To Be There Guest-Slave O OUR OWN PLANET & In It...CAUCASIANS[THE BLOODY LOT OF THEM INCLUDING THE CHINESE] Use This FICTION-Superiority Hiding Their FAGGOT-HERITAGE OF BEAST...Their Own Big Secret Alwys Using LIFE-to-Death Take It Or Leave It Conundrums To Survive...TAKE AWAY THEIR CRIMINALITY ON THE PLANET & MOST CAUCASIANS WILL JUST RAMPANTLY COMMIT SUICIDE & DIE! They Are never At Peace With Themselves... for the can't...by their DUEL-NATURE...

  • @Standardfrank gotcha!

  • @ddsharper ~3. This is How The CAUCASIAN DIVIDES 'ITS' TIME OVER ITS LIFE-TIME...At The Age Of 16 The Caucasian Finds It Has A Duel-Nature...ONE JEKYL the OTHER HYDE...Have U Noticed One Day Having Know A Whitey Over A Long-Stretch In College Or At Work...u Don't See Whitey For ~3Weeks...Whitey WON'T RECOGNISE UU ANY MORE..some amy get aggresive! Why? It Has ~2Natures...ONE DAYS IT'S HYDE THE NEXT DAY IT'S JEKYL...U wanna Beat Whitey? EXPOSE JECKYL & STOP DEALING WITH Hyde! U need Special Codes!

  • @Standardfrank I hear you. email the codes. is it the uniform, what synq is in?

  • All this interest in Africa, an uncovering of its history, is motivated by a total desire to rape the continent, since it contains more natural resources than any other continent and because whites, google it, believe Africa should be rid of its indigenous population. sound familiar? Ironic, ain't it. Math began in Africa, white man decimates Africa and then is the hero for saving Africa. amazing. Though I think this guy is sincere, the NWO is evil.

  • havent watched this yet

  • What's this shit about? Einstein...fuck Einstein? Gabriel Oyibo shits on Einstein...Philip Emeagwali?? Who's he? Google him...My Ancestors were using Quantum-Building Codes precisioning Quantum-Energy fields constructing Pyramids on Earth and on Mars as it is in Heaven in the Orion's-Belt through Assa, Amen: Ra! And still the cracker has no clue how to levitate a 300-tonne pyramid stone block! ...the cracker has much to learn...go see a Dohgon Priest!

  • @Standardfrank You are a brain washed moron. There have been recent interviews with dogon priests, and they don not repeat the same "knowledge" that the dogons in the 1920s told to the french explorers. It has been accepted that those earlier dogons were merely repeating what they heard from earlier explorers. And even a little research will show you that Oyibo is a fraud, and ancients did not use quantum theory.

  • @hannityforpres

    .

    .

    "There have been recent interviews with dogon priests, and they don not repeat the same "knowledge" that the dogons in the 1920s told to the french explorers." Do you have any source about that ???

    .

    I must hurt as hell to be a RACIST MORON to have reality shuttered your prejudiced beliefs and see your whole hierarchical racist system of values that constitutes the basis of your being collapses. BTW u should watch RON EGLASH's video

    Bwahahahahahhahahahah U are pathetic!!!

    .

    .

  • @goyavesETmangues

    I meant "reality shutter"

  • @Standardfrank do you know how to levitate a 300 ton pyramid sone?? Also, please show some evidence for these other crazy statements you have made.

  • @ultradevon04 Do some reasearc, the stones weren't :levitated" in place. They were poured. The stones were concrete.

  • @SPQRImperator Learn how to spell please.

  • @ultradevon04 I was typing quickly. Get over yourself.

  • @ultradevon04 Also, learn how to correctly punctuate, my YT English teacher. lol

  • @ultradevon04 Dude, why did you even reply to my first comment. What the heck are you even talking about.

  • @Standardfrank lol Don't know if troll, or just stupid as fuck.

    I'm leaning strongly toward stupid.

    You are so smart, eh? I bet in college you never got about a 2.75 GPA. Build us a pyramid, you wise African king!!! We bow before your intellectual might. lol

    Ape.

  • @SPQRImperator : Odd That Since You Carry The APE-BEAST-GENE With The Jackal-Graft With Dog-Splice..By Knemu...What Do You When You Look In The Mirror?=...Dog-Thin-Lips, Straight-Ape-Hair, Tail-Bone, Pig-Skin, Dog-Eye-Colour, Flat-Beast-Arse, Oblong-Horse-Nostrils & Damn Pink-Skin...Fuck-Sake You're A Mess...

    BUILD ME A KERNEL FOR YER DOG'S HOME...

    PIG!

  • @Standardfrank Someone hasn't learned basic punctuation, have they? lol

    You are free to start a space program back home in Africa, with your own people. Should be very easy, seeing as nearly all the inventions you currently enjoy are the direct product of blacks.

    Like the PC...Oh, nope. Or your operating system...Nope. How about aircraft? Nope. Or the light bulb...nope. Or the "green revolution" that has helped feed the world the past 100 years...Nope.

    All evil whites. Go watch BET. lol

  • @SPQRImperator=BESTIAL-MAN : Your Sign-Off Salutation Was Of An 'Ape'. Please Don't Disgrace Your Ancestor.

    The FAVORITE FRUIT Of The Ko-Casian(Deteriorating-Man) Is The BANANA=Makes Sense As You Have The Ape-Gene Sliced With DOG By Your FEATURES, Is With The Reason You Like To SOCIALISE With The Canine, Your ANCESTOR. When Your Womb-Men Are Tired Of You They Hook Up With DOGS(=Your Best Friend).

    Bestial-MAN: Show Me Where Yur INTELLIGENCE Is Located With Each Word U Wrote? u-CRIMINAL-JACKASS.

  • @Standardfrank What drugs are you on, kiddo? lol

  • Niel Turok does accept Stephen Jay Gould's theory of Non-Overlapping Magesteria (NOMA).

  • Awesome talk.

  • i wish i could go to that school

  • i hope that AIM extends to involve children who cannot attend primary and/or secondary schools. i hope that Dr. Neil will remember or i should say not forget about those kids as well. and i also hope that we have 'AIM' in middle east too, because the level of education is falling exponentially over there...

  • He's adorable. I've always liked men who are genuinely compassionate.

  • i have met enough people to make a generalization on intelligence, and that is intelligence manifests itself in many different forms.not just linguistics or the ability to perform well on an IQ test. There are some things that black people can do better then any other.. and i reserve some respect for them.The thing that is holding them back more then anything is prejudice from ignorant , and i think, scared people who are too greedy to give another guy a chance. Grow some balls u ignorant slags.

  • I once saw a documentary about Aborigines being treated as if they are all stupid in Australia in the past.

    A series of tests were performed, the white kids were better with written tests, but the Aborigines were far superior at spacial awareness.

  • I live in Australia and some of the most redneck, ignorant and stupid people I've ever had the mispleasure of meeting in my life live in this country.Their ignorance is absolutely astounding. The American comedian, Greg Proops once described it as "Arkansas by the sea". On the other hand, it could be considered a country of stark contrasts, as some of the scientific centres and the research which they do is world renowned.

  • @soggylogg So who gave all the other races "a chance"? Nobody! They pulled themselves up from the muck and mire by they're own bootstraps.

  • To the people below who think black people are intelectually inferior, I have three words for you: Neil Degrasse Tyson.:)

  • @zaqqazxsw : YOUR IN-TELL-LIE-AGENCY WROTE: To the people below who think black people are intelectually inferior, I have three words for you: Neil Degrasse Tyson.:) = Perhaps NDT is your father-in-law...or may be you were a product result of this court...Government's Secret Family Courts - Bill Maloney Reports

    watch?v=_BVzV1J4HWM

    ...u swallowed so much sperm-dick as child by the outsourcing you for the Elite, it's now fogged your brain-cells by your natural-faggorty!

  • @Standardfrank word!!!

  • @ddsharper : lol! Well. Not Really A Laughing Matter...when we speak with End-Glitsh it Is Spoken, Written & Thought With Violence=ALL WORD-DEFINTIONS/END-GLTISH ARE VIOLENT=TWISTED-FACTS=BE-LIE-F­=RAPE=FAGGOTRY=SEX-MIND-TAMPER­ING...NOT NATURAL=ALL SYNTHETIC-THOUGHT, IT IS AL FAGGOTRY AND EJECTING ALIEN MIND-GRAB-CRIMPIE THAT SETTLES WITHIN EVERYWORD THAT RAPES THE MIND-UNAUTHORISED=FAGGOTRY...E­ye know this...& Eye Don't Hold Back Sometimes...It's 'natural'-Endglitsh-unbleached­, SHOWN NAKED!

  • @Standardfrank yeah. eyec

  • Fabulous! I wrote a proposal for a World School of Peace which is endorsed by the Dalai Lama and Dr. Robert Muller, among others based on a very similar model - it's based on finding the most brilliant under privilaged students from all over the world (8 per country) and giving them the best education possible and making lectures available on line to the world as well for donations...put the palestinian students with the jewish etc and let them go on to solve world issues as friends ...

  • You're not slick. The real issue is jealousy. Whites are mad, because of their PENIS size. It makes you feel better to say that we're stupid, but that won't make your pecker grow.

  • by that comment it's clear that you are stupid :)

  • Youre a dumbshit!

  • hahaha you cite IQ scores? anyone who looks into that will easily find that IQ tests mean very little. and if, perhaps, a physical IQ test were administered, who do you suppose would score highest? and what does that mean? that their circumstances are different.

    same capabilities for humans, with marginal variations. people are so scarcely able to tell each other apart that there's a highly specialized part of the brain dedicated to distinguishing faces apart.

  • AdiZetaFunction are there whites with IQs less than 70?Are dark-skinned southern asians whites or blacks?...southern indians for example are as

    black as africans.Racial IQ is an average...do you know how an average score is calculated??..no?Well I thought so:u add all the scores and divide them by the number of participants.Some africans score 150 in IQ tests...I personally know 2.How you arrived at the number 103 is a mystery...tells alot about your IQ!!Not all whites are Einsteins you know!

  • btw, what's you're iq? i'm not trying to make any judgements here. answer now

  • He is correct. But the causes of lower IQ hasn't been concluded because of fundamental design. Nature vs Nurture are both areas that may be the factors. Adizeta you should however not use words like "Blackie" if you want to be taken seriously.

  • The IQ test is not a very accurate way to measure intelligence, there have been many studies on this.

    The average score in America has risen in the last 50 years, yet this seems to be contradictory to common sense if IQ was indeed an accurate measure of intelligence, no?

  • Thank you. Many within the fields of psychology have dismissed the IQ test as non-sense, a form of scientific racism. The main reason IQ test have risen is because the school ciriculum is geared toward these kinds of test. The IQ test is not a valid indicator of intelligence.

  • @Keysteeze straight from eugenicists. sterilized over 365K people in US with this stuff and now through planned parenthood, their child node.

  • @AdiZetaFunction You're not South Indian you racist bastard. I'm from Southern Asia and most (almost ALL) of us identify more with the plight of the Africans. They have been raped in the past by the west and continue to be raped presently. We are just waiting for more civilized civilizations to come to power (China/India) in the world so that they are given a fair chance. Silly, ignorant, short-sighted and naiive westerners.

  • AdiZetaFunction...you said in aprevious comment, , and I quote: "I know there many pure Black intelligent people. But collectively they score 70 of nonverbal IQ tests"

    Thanks for realizing that there are some black intelligent people, who are waaaay more intelligent like a lot of whites....unless ...you will tell me all whites are more intelligent than all blacks.

    just sayin

  • Hey I am Indian... tell me what do you guys think about us I am just curious!!!!!!

    Pls dont mension english accent!

  • africans by human standard of brain to body size ratio have the biggest brains.. the end

  • it seems all the money that goes to africa is useless. all of it goes to corrupt politicians. you cant monitor the money.

  • they're not corrupt. they're operating as was intended, they're just dead set on oppressing people. that can be changed.

  • what a beautiful scheme

  • Amazing.

  • what an amazing person.

  • Africa has been and still is in many ways being pillaged by Arabs, Asians and especially Europeans for centuries, dont expect big changes any time soon.

  • What about killing T-Rex?

  • The world's richest man Warren Buffet has given 90% of his wealth to Africa and other poor nations. It totals to more than $40 billion. You can use that money -- just a fraction of that money -- to build all AIMS centers, fund AIDS research, build schools, AIDS treatment clinics -- and control Religious stupidity that is plaguing Africa.

  • you're exactly right, it seems that the money given isn't doing the job at the moment. the root causes of problems (probably religion) aren't beeing addressed

  • why is he not killin dinos?

  • do gooders who dont change anything on the ground, i've just returned from helping build a school in malawi, shocking sites to be seen there believe me, and i returned to a pristine sparkling 2bn pound airport so you are all talking shit.

  • African centric areas are all such successes. any fool can see that.

    Deluded liberals ever present fascination with africans :/

  • Tdeff, you are obviously an idiot. Go back to community college.

  • Your comments are not even coherent. Neil said that all previous "investments" have failed miserably because they have not attempted to fashion Africa into a first world country with first world skills. They're myopic. Just wait to see what the results are. There is risk in this approach, but it isn't as though you have any impact upon the outcome, anyways. Besides, what have you done?  What right have you to criticize?

  • You know, the graduates of the school now have the income to make a difference, at least within their families and schools, if they are inclined. It is a redistribution of the wealth of the world. Rather than begging for aid, Africa will have the power to forget the aid and simply take what it needs. You have no idea of the potential impact, so just wait and see. Would you say those same nasty words to the students and graduates of AIMS, to their faces, to their families?

  • Neil is my cousin...(seriously!!) oh my god!!! I am so impressed!!! I vote for the nobel prize too!!!

  • i love how TED focuses on africa a lot. a 7th of all people live there. and most do not get enough education. there's SO much potential for science there. also the culture is very friendly and warm. good-hearted scientists with super social skills will come from there. and of course hawking is part of it. rock on, hawking!

  • Give him a Nobel Prize

  • Another cause of lack of scientific slaves in Africa might be that the African is too smart to join the Western capitalist matrix.

  • Rubbish.

    As if science (read: eradication of diseases, ignorance, and poverty) must necessarily lead to Capitalism.

  • Western scientists have contaminated Africa with all kinds of diseases just like the Spanish killed the natives in the Americas.

    Aids is the result of medical experimentation to find a vaccin for polio, if you didn't know.

    US and USSR have played their games for power in Africa for a long time and caused wars, destruction of societies and poverty.

    Sir, you are guilty of serious etnocentrism when you think your so-called knowledge is higher than another's. Do your homework!

  • Your claim that Western scientists contaminated Africa with Aids while trying to find a vaccine for polio rests on the premise that they inadvertently infected locals with the HIV virus while trying to administer polio vaccines that were cultivated Chimpanzee tissues. That claim was long debunked by the fact that the SIV strains infecting those Chimpanzees are phylogenetically different from all known strains of HIV to date.

  • *cultivated in Chimpanzee tissues.

    One of Africa's major contemporary problems are conspiracy theorists like yourself who act as ambassadors of ignorance to the continent, spouting scientifically and factually uncritical claims about technology that could really help the continent. As a result, millions more continue to die because jerks like you play on the fears and ignorance of the population. Lastly, your claim for ethnocentrism is debunked by the fact that I am an African (Nigerian).

  • This is so inspiring!

    I love it!

  • The slaveowners back then were too lazy and drunk off their fat asses to work. Those dumbass supremacist bastards were and still are always blaming others for problems caused by their own hand and making a bad example of whites,not all of us were like that then and now. I care for all races,there I said it!!

  • you would think such a wonderful thing would be well recived. just goes to show give a 16y/o in the suburbs a keyboard and they will think we care about the opinions they have.

  • fuck u idiot!

  • i really would love to know where you are from!! Pehaps u are one of those that have this parochial views about nigerians, Nigeria still remain he country with the highest number of educated folks..amongst africans,

  • What do your comments say about Sean Hannity? Scary....

  • you know you have a point, despite the use of what society deems an insulting word what you said is true, saying it's a surprise does not undermine africans, it shows that society is slowly eradicating idiotic racism and descrimination, meaning more and more africans are able to use the intelligence they were born with because it's no longer being inhibited by irrational racists and technological issues

  • yeah....blame the racists...then you look at the massive oppression of Jews and stammer...

  • yeah racisim is a very large part of the problem, not claiming that's all of it tho, there's more to deal with

  • yeah! go Africa!

  • Maybe he should spend more time hunting dinosaurs.

  • lol

  • I know. After all...

    He...is Turok!

  • Genius

  • Africa is so huge and diverse it is amazing

  • Wonder how many of the graduates will remain in Africa

  • That's sad, isn't it. So many educated Africans leave for greener pastures in Europe and North America.

  • TED is awesome!

    subscribed.

  • a brilliant idea!! good job!! :))

  • Neil Turok - an incredible man!

  • comment

  • that turok sure has a scary laugh >_>

  • This guy is a true role model

  • though i am immensely thankful for someone like this man to keep us safe from dinosaurs n shit

  • not only is he dope, he kills dinosaurs n shit

  • You are great, Turok! Good on you, make Africa green. This is really my dream.

  • Turok like the game?

  • He is a wonderful man, god bless him and may there be an AIMS in every African country

  • I think you have to live here to even START to get a grasp of the depth of the problem. I'm American and have been in South Africa for 11 years. I wonder if it will ever come right.

  • Africa's problem is that it is to RICH in resources. That's why it was colonized and that's why it is STILL being colonized. The capitalist class of the "western world" does't want Africa to get better, because this way, it's easier to exploit her.

    I wonder how many of those young graduates will actually return to Africa after finishing their post-graduate degrees in Cambridge and other fancy places...

  • Those most likely to let their countries resources go are those least likely to care about their people.

    The mind set of those who help the starving is different from those that influence Africa by thinking of nothing other then profit margins. Those same type people also influence Americas government and quite closely resemble those leader they prop up around the world in a moral sense.

  • Native Africans need to take over their countries rich resources to provide for their own future. It's hypocritical how Americans and any other developed nations are more than willing to aid in hunger and medicine towards Africa but are just as willing to take their most valuable resources for their greedy selves. (Diamonds, gold)

  • Blood Diamonds by Campbell Greg explains the sad story behind. After reading it, my fiance and I decided to buy an engineered diamond as engagement.

  • Actually, native African governments need to stop using this wealth to buy palaces and huge fleets of Mercedes S Class limos for themselves instead of investing it in education, healthcare etc. Blaming the west for Africa's problems is simplistic in the extreme. We've seen in Zimbabwe over the last few years just how destructive bad government can be. None of Zimbabwe's current problems are the west's fault.

  • I definitely agree corrupt politics within and greed among the few authorities are a major cause in the perpetual crumbling infrastructure but this continent has been systematically pillaged from "men with guns"(Europeans)often brutalizing native tribes and somehow made them to be vicious barbarics which is far from truth. Do you actually think British Colonialism is done with non-violence? George Washington only fought off the British Army valiantly with comparable weapons. Sadly, Africans: NO.

  • I find your attitude rather condescending actually. You imply that Africans are completely helpless and have nothing to do with their current circumstances. Yes, in the past Africa was colonised by Europeans. During that time extensive infrastructure was built including rail links, dams, roads etc. When the Europeans left these decayed under African mismanagement and economies have gone backwards as murderous warlords fought genocidal wars for the chance to form the next corrupt government.

  • Africa had its independence wars, and it won them. When the English were driven from America the country flourished because it had good leaders. The American Declaration of Independence is so remarkable that it remains powerfully stirring to this day. If the independence fighters of Africa had similar motivation, Africa would be a very different place. Unfortunately for the most part they only only fought to replace benevolent European dictatorships with their own malevolent local ones.

  • In my opinion the solution for Africa is to have them organize themselves back into tribal councils and tribal areas and tribal laws. That is their system that works for them since they came into existence millenia ago. The borders they have now as former colonies, with governments in place of the previous colonial ones doesn't work for Africans. The turmoil in Africa proves that. Lets not forget if a people have a social system different from European, it doen't make them inferior.

  • I guess you are a bit more knowledgeable in this subject my friend and you made some good points. But I hardly perceive the "European dictatorship" as benevolent. And before there were borders and governing rule there were civil tribes coexisting, more or less, peacefully with the occasional differences. As I recall on one documentary African tribes fought valiantly to no avail the Europeans due to refusal of acceptance of the railroads and modern structure. It was pretty bloody.

  • Just my 2 cents. The Amish people in America have their own governing rule and society untainted from the modern world and they seem fine. I notice indigenous African tribes always seem have a peaceful nature to them versus the corrupt individuals tainted by modern amenities and money.

  • Another thing America is a great country and independence from the British made the country it is today but, if you read between the lines, we did not get where we are today from just hard work and perseverance. If it wasn't for slavery and free labor we might not be this far more prosperous than most countries. This country literally blossomed from agricultural to industrial to service revolution in a little more than 200 years from literally the aching backs of the slaves. Facts of life.

  • By the logic "slaves make a society great" it should follow that countries like Haiti should be the wealthiest, and America's south should be richer than the north. Actually economically slaves are a lousy resource because their productivity is really low. Humanitarianism aside, from a strictly economic point of view mechanised agriculture creates far more wealth than slave-run plantations. The west got wealthy because it had the industrial revolution and replaced human muscle with machines.

  • Before 1860, Slavery was commonplace across the whole country for almost 400 years already. What is the point of owning slaves if you don't make progress? (Resourcefulness and preservation for your own people as well) The Chinese people used to scale down one end of the mountain to place the explosives on the side and sometimes they don't make it back up in time. If not for their valor railroads wouldn't have passageways. Progress, resourcefulness, and preservation of your own people are key.

  • Not that the Chinese were slaves but they were just as expendable.

  • Africans didn't exactly advertise their slave trade market to the world either. It takes two to tango. Tell me if slavery was counterproductive and non-efficient why on Earth do people split families apart, force hard labor on them from dusk till dawn, and look at them as if they were domesticated livestock? Is it the sadistic side of human beings to instigate suffering on other human beings for their own sadomasochistic needs. Somehow I'm starting to believe that...

  • "Africans didn't exactly advertise their slave trade market to the world either." You might start by looking up the Wikipedia page on the history of slavery. It might surprise you that slavery in Africa predates Europeans' arrival by thousands of years. It was just as common also in the Americas long before white men arrived.. you seen Apocalypto? Seriously, claiming white men invented slavery is like saying the French invented sex.

  • "What is the point of owning slaves if you don't make progress?"

    Well to answer that we have to differentiate between the best interest of the slave owner, and the best interest of the nation.

    Slave ownership made a few slave owners wealthy but overall hampered the economy, society as a whole would have been better off if they had paid the workers and turned them into aspirational consumers. Apart from anything else, paid workers have a much higher production output than slaves.

  • How do you think the pyramids got built, contractors? Seriously, if that's the case what a huge misstep in America's short history. Maybe Humans are just sick, sadistic beings then. Rape was often documented and lynchings was prevalent to keep the slaves oppressed. And to think all this could be avoided if they had some economic sense.

  • "Paid workers have a much higher production output than slaves" Bold statement which you have no basis to prove that. Would paid workers work from dust till dawn seven days a week and if they did wouldn't they try to unionize and fight back. Modern economics would support your statement. When your life was expendable and there's impending threat of losing your family and your nutrition intake was based on how thorough you worked the fields you probably tend to be just as productive if not more.

  • "Bold statement which you have no basis to prove that." Actually, I do. If you care to do a bit of research you'll find numerous economic papers and books have been written on the economics of slavery and the creation of a wealthy society, including many studying NAZI Germany's use of slavery in WW2. A good start would be "The Birth of Plenty" by William Bernstein, a very accessible book which asks the question, "why is it that some societies are wealthy while others are poor?"

  • "Would paid workers work from dust till dawn seven days a week" This statement makes me wonder how old you are, and if you've ever had a job! Dusk till dawn are approximately the same number of hours I work per day, and I'm self employed. Electric lighting means I can sleep in later, and stay up later though.

    Slaves aren't given productivity incentives, they're just whipped a lot. As a result they shirk the moment the boss' back is turned. Also, they were usually poorly trained.

  • "How do you think the pyramids got built, contractors?" While you are at it, you might want to look up some Egyptian history! The pyramids were built by free citizens during the flood season when their farmland was submerged by the Nile. There is ample archaeological evidence for this including pay records, various artifacts at the sites, graffiti discovered inside the pyramids etc. Heck, you don't even need a library for that one... you'll learn that from watching the Discovery Channel!

  • "Seriously, if that's the case what a huge misstep in America's short history" Yes, you are right! Slavery was a terrible idea, for humanitarian reasons and because it hindered the economy. At one point it is estimated that 50% of the population of Madgascar were slaves (Wikipedia), yet that country is among the world's poorest. In all seriousness, if you do a bit of research you'll find that slavery turns out to be a really bad idea on many levels, including the economic one.

  • Aww come on!  African tribes have a peaceful nature? RWANDA!!! The white slave traders didn't actually round up their slaves themselves, they were sold these slaves by black Africans. African tribes were (and still are) constantly warring, and selling POWs and civilian hostages to slave traders was a major source of income for many tribes. The myth of the noble savage going about his business in Eden is just romanticism, pre-colonial Africa like most prehistoric societies was utterly brutal.

  • "The Amish people in America have their own governing rule and society untainted from the modern world and they seem fine." As an ironic aside, inbreeding among the Amish has created numerous health problems. Despite their anti-technology beliefs they have embraced modern medicine including some very cutting edge gene therapy. Google "gene therapy Amish" for more info. Also, the Amish population is constantly shrinking because a good portion of young Amish want modernity, so they leave the sect.

  • "As I recall on one documentary African tribes fought valiantly to no avail the Europeans due to refusal of acceptance of the railroads and modern structure."

    The west had people like that also, the Luddites. Today there are few people who agree with them, they'd much rather have a long healthy prosperous life than a lifetime of backbreaking manual labor in the fields, and their core assertion that mechanisation creates unemployment is known to be complete and utter crap.

  • Travis my friend you are absolutelly right, however there is more to it. For example colonial governments left but they were replaced by an African government that simply continued the same kind of oppressive policy. Then the issue of borders and tribes. Their world was turned upside down with colonialism and they are not quite working on putting it back into a system that works for Africans. Americans had a vision a motivation and built a system that works for them. How can Africans do that?

  • Lots of civilisations have had disturbances of at least equal magnitude to colonialism. Asia had basically exactly the same experience but has not turned out anything like Africa. Many Asian countries followed up colonialism with Communist revolutions and wars which were at least as traumatic as the start and end of colonialism but have turned out completely differently. Not even Vietnam, which had brutal colonialism AND the Vietnam war AND communism has turned out as screwed up as Africa.

  • Europe had not one but TWO terrible world wars with acts of genocide far more brutal than anything Africa has gone through, and then had the Cold War etc. Africa's problems are not colonialism, they're not lack of resources, and they're certainly not caused by biological differences between Africans and Europeans. There is little about Africa that could not be solved by better education, an embrace of free market economics and a rule of law. (Europe dropping agri tariffs would help too)

  • "Native Africans need to take over their countries rich resources to provide for their own future" Can you cite any examples where forced nationalisation of foreign assets did NOT result in catastrophic outcomes for the economy?

    Take the example of Venezuela. Until the 1950s it was one of the wealthiest countries in the world with a per capita GDP as high as anywhere. In the 1950s "patriotic" governments seized foreign businesses including oil cos, and this prosperity rapidly evaporated.

  • "The capitalist class of the "western world" does't want Africa to get better, because this way, it's easier to exploit her."

    That is incredibly naive, and completely wrong. The west pours huge amounts of money into Africa every year in aid. They would much rather pour huge amounts in as investment so they can turn them into wealthy consumers. A wealthy man makes a much more profitable customer than a starving man. Capitalists do much better when there is a strong economy.

  • "They would much rather pour huge amounts in as investment so they can turn them into wealthy consumers." - Like in China for instance. There is nothing those greedy capitalists would like more than for Africa to do what China is doing now so they can do business there.

    Your conspiracy theory doesn't hold up for mining either. Because of poor infrastructure, training and security, plus govt corruption, mining in Africa is actually extremely expensive vs. elsewhere, despite the cheap labour.

  • TravisMorien, all that about slaves' productivity being low is just nonsense. I mean compared to what? To mechanized labour, as you say? You're mixing up technology with social structure here. Comparing a free worker with advanced equipment to a slave with primitive equipment makes no sense. Try comparing the two if they use the SAME equipment and you'll see who's more productive.