World Bank app competition

http://appsfordevelopment.challengepost.com/

by potterzot • 16 years ago

19 13 16 years ago

appsfordevelopment.challengepost.com

In case anyone needs a project for the next month... There is a lot of very cool data there.

I'll design an app that helps you plan excessive infrastructure projects for developing nations that plunge them into debt so they can be exploited for political gain! The World Bank will love that!

john_horton• 16 years ago

And then the World Bank will write-off that debt under their Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC): http://goo.gl/iaQfJ

The fact that the US has a lot of control over the World Bank seems reasonable given that they put up the lion's share of the capital. As far as dictating terms and conditions, regardless of their merit, there aren't many banks that will give million dollar loans to bad credit risks w/o strings attached. What's the alternative scenario? No bank? They just give out money?

madair5• 16 years ago

man you gotta be such a sucker to fall for this one.

debt, assumed by despotic and self serving governments, 20% of which goes to fund their militarily held regimes without providing growth, which enslave generations, all well documented, all neo-colonialism: suckers & selfishticos sign-up here, your dream awaits. join the world bank in its phony do-gooder endeavors.

god what the hell is wrong with people, is propaganda really this good? i mean, seriously. this is on the front page. people voting this up are very evil or very very very stupid, which these do you up-voters prefer to be?

nodata2• 16 years ago

people voting this up are very evil or very very very stupid, which these do you up-voters prefer to be?

I wouldn't want to be seen as stupid! I'd better agree with you!

Your comment reads like a rant: how about some links to educate us?

madair5• 16 years ago

do your own homework. i'm not the one voting up the world bank. the voter uppers have the burden of responsibility for advocation. not all ideas are equal.

this site does not allow me to vote down, this means an unequal burden in defense of a down vote versus an up vote, despite an up-vote being an positive advocation. (this is not a brainstorming session, this is life)

and please note that i'm being called upon to carefully document a response to propaganda on top of defending an idea against anonymous up-votes. hmmm. can you smell the bullshit? can you taste it? all i smell and taste are kangaroo court judges in a carefully constructed technolalaland.

and since the dumbsters really won't get it: if your head is appointed by the president of the united states, not to mention if only americans can be head, then this marketing effort is dictionary definition of propaganda, that's not an opinion statement. (it's amazing how often one needs to pull out the dictionary in this joint)

ThomPete2• 16 years ago

HN is not a political forum. If you want to vent your political opinions I suggest you go to reddit.

Posts don't get upvoted because of their moral validty but because of their relevance to the kind of things that get's discussed here.

You are an atheist I see (me too) and yet you seem to use the word evil as if it's some objective standard?

Now what's up with that!

madair5• 16 years ago

a call for action on behalf of the world bank is political. that is the problem for the site, the original poster, and the up-voters to consider along with the dissenters. besides, all social organization is political, that is what politics is.

and on [good and] evil:

a. our social condition reasonably constructs a concept of evil worthy of consideration, it also helps our society work, hopefully to benefit the individual

b. on the macro-scale our biological imperative most likely assists in that construction, but that does not imply the construction is always successful in the macro or micro scale (think dinosaurs). besides, what do i care about macro, micro has plenty to consider for me, i'll leave the very long-term to the gene pool to worry about

c. and we create our own truth, you have yours and i have mine. i like mine, but it's constantly adjusting as i attempt to learn

so tell me again where the problem is?

(and no, in response to your comment below, it's you who said that about politics, i just responded with the basic problem in what you're saying)

p.s. i can't respond to posts anymore, i guess i'm a troll, awesome system this. block ur ears from the bad man everyone!

p.p.s. score for the reddit suggestion! psuedo-victorian genteel ideal that it is (the suggestion that is)

and regarding point #3, i'm responding to your questions Thom, responding, you asked how the word evil can be used, i explained why i think it is a valid term for an atheist to use in context. #1 is the answer to the question about why it applies to this discussion.

these are not ideas i came up with, they are the basic problems of philosophy. obviously you don't have agree and neither can i expect that i control the market on truth. that's what intellectual honesty is. i gave you a rough outline of the framework i'm basing opinions and these includes points you can use to refute me...because i can use those point to refute me too.

i am choosing to focus on the social benefits for our time, and i make no claim that this is not a self-serving act, anyone who does is probably lying, though it would be wonderful to be proven wrong. i'm just looking for better society than what we live in now. better for others means better for you and me. it doesn't matter how many cars i have if i sm living in fear of the next attack from our enemies. or the next financial upset. or the rise of china and what it means for my children and grandchildren (well, i've only got the children right now)

on the social scale we are propagating something usefully described as evil in the context of our time in our society and affecting us. and i believe it is an extended condition largely because of our faulty debate mechanisms, susceptibility to propaganda, hypersensitivity to inconvenience...blah blah blah

noverloop• 16 years ago

I'm surprised by the anti-world bank sentiment here. You should read 'The Bottom Billion', which was written by the director of the Development Research Group at the World bank (2003-2008)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bottom_Billion

jswinghammer• 16 years ago

The problem has to do with how much good debt does for people and how much influence the US government has over the organization. It's not unfair to see the bank as an arm of US foreign policy since the US has to agree to everything that happens.

The world bank insists on policies that we would never agree to like water privatization. That has lead to a lot of problems in poorer countries. It just seems like a scheme to transfer what wealth exists in poor countries and transfer it to the banks of the west.

If we really wanted to do good in the world we wouldn't give loans we'd give aid for these projects instead.

World Bank app competition

Related Stories