One of the things that thrills me about attending the Second Annual ICT4D Postgraduate Symposium is seeing Hans Rosling in the flesh, as he will be there as keynote speaker. I’ve always loved his work with Gapminder and how information or statistics, graphically presented, can be so revealing — and appealing.
My friend and colleague César Córcoles now reminds me that prof. Rosling was back at TED this year (he also was there on 2006). The presentation, as usual, is impressive, fun… and impressive. But, over all, I loved the common sense he showed when he explained the way he understood the dimensions of development, where crosses state the importance of each item as a mean and as a goal:
| Means | Goals | |
| Human Rights | + | +++ |
| Environment | + | ++ |
| Governance | ++ | + |
| Economic Growth | +++ | 0 |
| Education | ++ | + |
| Health | + | ++ |
| Culture | + | +++ |
As shown in the table, Economic Growth is the most powerful mean, but the real goal is not GDP increases, but Human Rights and, over all, Culture, which is what makes people’s live happy
. For your enjoyment, his two speeches at TED.
Source: TED Talks 2006. Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen
Share:
