March 2017 - KICTANet

Proposals on usage of the Universal service fund. (USF)
by Job Muriuki 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

A lot has been asked on the usage of the Universal service fund which is a the tune of billions now. Why don't we have an open forum and give our views of how it can be beneficial to all especially the marginalised areas. One practical way to address the issue is using the fund to identify areas in need and setup stations in government secured areas like chief camps and police posts that are back hauled via the NOFBI cable. Then invite the private sector to offer services and in return contribute to the fund at agreed rates. The infrastructure would be on a shared mode and managed by the fund.

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Re: [kictanet] Launch of the Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecard and Workshop for leaders and ICT Industry Stakeholders
by Barrack Otieno 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

Listers, The above mentioned meeting is happening now. You can participate remotely through the following link: https://livestream.com/accounts/23663258/iaowirat The meeting is organized by the International Association of Women in Radio and Television with the support of the World Wide Web Foundation, the Embassy of the United States of America and UNESCO. Best Regards -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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kictanet Digest, Vol 118, Issue 9
by Frederick Muriithi 01 Mar '17

01 Mar '17

1. Re: Why Bill Gates would tax robots (Ahmed Mohamed Maawy) On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 2:11 PM, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > I for one welcome our robot overloads :-) First off, I think the problem is that the current system (the way things are and have been, status quo, if you will) is trying to maintain itself in the face of changes in technology and society, rather than adapting to the changes. To put this in perspective: the major reason the automation is such a big deal, is that people will lose employment and not be able to pay for essential services, but this can be fixed by dealing with a more pertinent question, "Why should people have to pay for basic services?" In a number of countries around the world, essential services like healthcare, education etc. are already free, meaning people really do not need to have an income to access these services. I think this can still be maintained in the robotic era without having to treat robots like humans (i.e. taxing the robots) I think that taxing the robots might be used as a stop-gap measure, but eventually, the system will have to adapt. The reason I say this is, robots are initially expensive to build/install, but once built, they do not need a salary, and can work for longer, and better than humans, especially for manual manufacturing steps. This is their main attraction to companies/institutions that consider them. Question becomes, how do you tax an entity that earns nothing? How exactly will we tax the robots? I think eventually governments might have to increase income-tax rates for companies, or come up with other measures to tax companies according to their automation efforts which will only lead to a slow-down of the automation efforts, but they will still happen. I have no solutions to this, but I do think we'll need to collectively look at the existing systems and think of how we could adapt or change the systems. Maybe we should bring back the idea of a universal basic salary on the table. Maybe we should rethink the funding of essential services in the face of technological changes... On the issue of AI taking over: I think humans will merge with AI/robots, from bionic augmentation, to the current use of multiple devices to increase our catchment area of ideas and opinions a.k.a the internet I am hoping this will be the trend, where we will have devices implanted in our brains and bodies to help us make use of the benefits of the larger AI. On the other side, I see the development of organic neural nets being added into robots. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetware_computer for a quick introduction) These 2 developments will mean differentiating between augmented humans and robots with organic parts will be difficult, and messy.

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Re: [kictanet] Why Bill Gates would tax robots
by Mark Kipyegon 01 Mar '17

01 Mar '17

During the Industrial Revolution, critics of mechanisation would use similar arguments. Advances in technology should be embraced. On 28 Feb 2017, at 10:25, "kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke" <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:21:47 +0300 > From: Job Muriuki <muriukin(a)gmail.com> > To: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack(a)gmail.com> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Why Bill Gates would tax robots > Message-ID: > <CAJ+RKRbKRsadcYewDv-zEiAN0dpVKryxHye64aUc0FSB5toOkA(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Barrack, > > Am in business and I know it's the bottom line that counts at the expense > of people. > Now we further what to fire the already strained employee replace them with > a robot > for a fatter bank account and cash you don't need. > I believe Bill Gates been the billionaire he is has realised you can have > all the cash > and wealth you can get but it all without meaning what really matters is > the humanity. > >

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