Welcome to Africa… In the year 2057, neuroscience has reverse-engineered the human brain to uncover the inner workings of the mind, and two-thirds of the world’s population are implanted with biocores; organic microcomputers that interface billions of people to the world-wide electronic Grid. On the 3rd of March, a retired police officer is called back [ Read More ]
Hello cyberpunks and -punkettes, here’s a new article of mine that’s just been published by cyberculture legend R. U. Sirius on his latest webzine; Acceler8or. This one is entitled ‘Developing Worlds: Beyond the Frontiers of Science Fiction‘, and here’s the opening paragraph: Imagine a young African boy staring wide-eyed at the grainy images of an [ Read More ]
Writing a novel is like watching a tree grow in real-time. It can be a genuinely wholesome and fulfilling experience, but it’s mostly a slow and agonizingly painful process, especially after you’ve come to love the little world you’ve created and can’t wait to share it with the big one. This month marks exactly two [ Read More ]
What does it really mean to say that we live in a fast-changing world? The meaning of this well-worn phrase seems to have narrowed greatly over time to focus mainly on economic development while glossing over the many social implications of technological progress. The world has only just begun to grasp the importance of this [ Read More ]
The Ugly: Modern Day Slavery Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (Naptip) said officials visited Mali this month to follow up “horrendous reports” from victims, aid workers and clergy in Mali. They said there were hundreds of brothels, each housing up to 200 girls, run by Nigerian “madams” who force them [ Read More ]
I have quite unexpectedly been granted the privilege to appear as a guest on the Writers Project radio show, which airs this Sunday evening on Citi 97.3 FM, Ghana. The Writers Project of Ghana is an organization that promotes writing through workshops, public readings, and their radio show on Citi FM. I didn’t have any [ Read More ]
It all began in August 2009 with District 9, the acclaimed blockbuster by South African director Neill Blomkamp about an alien refugee camp. This was followed closely by Pumzi, a short film by Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu about a post-apocalyptic East Africa. Now the largest movie industry in Africa has joined in on the action [ Read More ]
First of all, let me apologize for taking even longer than usual to update the blog. I’ve been consumed with the not inconsiderable task of writing a novel and haven’t had enough time to find inspiration for a new article. Not to worry, I’ll be getting on that as soon as this current wave of [ Read More ]
On Friday, 4th June, Dagbladet, Norway’s 3rd largest newspaper (according to Wikipedia) published an interview with me on my thoughts about Africa’s future for its bi-weekly technology column. The interview was conducted by Martin Bergesen and originally appeared in Norwegian. Below is a translated version of that article. *** Is Africa about to develop into the [ Read More ]
For a while, it seemed that cyberpunk was dead. The Internet counterculture of the West went mainstream faster than anyone could have predicted and the grim forecast of the cyberpunk movement became a self-defeating prophecy. Many dark realities were prevented from coming to be. Far from the sinister age of corporate dominance many envisioned, the [ Read More ]
Welcome to Africa. You are not where you think you are. You are not on a safari, or an expedition, or a mission. Your footprint is not the first here, nor will it be the last. Africa is a tour with no guide and no schedule, a ride with no stops, no brakes, and no [ Read More ]
