Capitalizing on the knowledge that allows societies to develop should become the norm ; so , it is aberrant that in Africa associate professors of medicine are o ered ministerial posts and other high positions in the bureaucracy that keeps them away from hospitals , which have become veritable places of death , or research institutes which remain empty shells where nothing or almost nothing comes out as innovative studies for the progress and well-being of local societies .
“ Science , like technology , is always historical . But , in capitalism , science is considered as a reservoir of knowledge from which technique feeds ( see the excellent Nef , 1953 ). It is considered as a reservoir of the forces of production because the work process has become “ a technological application of science ” ( Marx , 1977 , Volume II , p . 220 )”. These maxims explain better what science must be used for in the Third World so that it becomes an essential tool for development . Science must serve technology to enable production in all fields for the well-being of all in Africa and the rest of the Third World . However , in the current situation , is it really possible to get out of the patterns that cause the best brains , when they do not go abroad , to be used in tasks that practically annihilate the knowledge they have spent years acquiring ?
The first culprit of the inadequacy of the use of skills in Africa and in the third world is the elitism of the ruling classes which , instead of being content to place in managerial functions those who have a background in the management of the public a airs , does not shy away from attracting into its lap brains who have done the best studies in the technological and scientific fields , creating de facto a black bourgeoisie from the tropics who knows nothing about creating wealth but lives handsomely at the back of the state and by ricochets of citizens ' taxes . What follows is a vicious circle of endless corruption that feeds on greed , incompetence and influence peddling . In this diagram , it is easy to understand why incompetence is often endemic in these third world countries because in the first place you are never coopted into the ruling class to produce anything based on your acquired skills , but to look good in the political agendas of a government for parchments acquired in the greatest academic institutions of the Western world . In the case of what have been called presidential monarchies , particularly in sub-Saharan Africa , the regimes in place generally rely on their survival in the medium and long term and capitalize on the recruitment and gentrification of the best brains not only to occupy the latter in spots far removed from their true pedigree , but also with a view to muzzling any future opposition in a system that they know is ine cient , but highly remunerative in the capture of the country ' s wealth by the ruling class . By getting wet in what some have comically called the manger , one can no longer o er solutions to the problem , because one becomes part of the problem by becoming a member of the cartel in power . It is imperative that Third World governments create a framework that allows the application of technology to enable the development of their countries . Since the 1950s the theorist Robert Solow has well defined the direct link that exists between technology and the economic development of a country .
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Flashmag ! Issue 133 September 2022