cool article, interesting quote

They sure work for the people who participate.

John

Think of it as evolution in action... 8-)

Charlie

I take quite a harsh position about it... children with AIDS or adults who contract AIDS from medical transfusions... treat them.

Adult onset AIDS... let 'em die... why waste the medications.

...Jim Thompson

A large scale "Darwin Award"?

I hadn't thought much about this before, but all sexual critters have to deal with STDs. Monogamy, or at least limited promiscuity, is one defense. Chimps are promiscuous, at least within a group, and carry an aids-like virus, but it doesn't kill them.

Some fish never make contact. The female dumps some eggs, and the male cruises by and fertilizes them. Some spiders and insects have the ideal solution to STDs: after the female mates with a male, she eats him.

John

Yes, it is evolution in action. The people who are exposed directly to the AIDS virus, who do not contract it, or who do contract it, but do not die are going to have children who has a far bigger chance to being resitant to AIDS. THe world might end up with the inverse of when the europeans explored the world. The Europeans brought very deadly deseases to which they were resitant, and the other population were not. In a number og generations, most Africans would be resistant to AIDS, while the rest of the world would not. It is also a fact that many (most ?) of the European and American companies that show an interest in Africa, do it only to see how they can exploit it's resources and people. Why then would the local people believe anything that is said by Americans and Europeans regarding AIDS ? People dying from hunger and other deseases which are not an issue in the USA or Europe is common, so AIDS is not seen as that much different. It is also true that in Africa, women have a lot less choice about having sex. Rape as defined by western culture is endemic. Couple this to the fact that a women is much more likely to contract the desease from a HIV positive male than the other way round, it is no wonder that the spread of the desease is difficult to stop.

Regards Anton Erasmus (If there is such a thing as an African American, then I must be a Euro-African)

work,

work.

Are you treating AIDS or advancing a moral agenda?

That way the males's protein contributes directly to the development of his children.

Except that the fatality rate is just about 100%, and HIV mutates such as to fool the human immune system; only a few, rare individuals seem to be able to live with HIV, and nobody seems able to kill it off. Modification of behavior is a far more effective defense against AIDS; it works immediately, whereas genetic immunity may take a thousand years to evolve. And Europeans have got the behavior-modification thing down. Realistically, if the human race ever gets AIDS under control, it will be with drugs.

That's what companies are for, to make money.

Because not all Americans and Europeans are companies.

The USA and Europe have made massive and successful efforts to combat diseases worldwide, like smallpox and polio (which do affect them) and things like malaria and dengue fever, which don't. And there's been a lot of food aid to Africa. More could and should be done, of course.

Right. The only longterm fix is a complex combination of economic reform, development, and education, especially education of women. Men are just too sexually irresponsible to be left in charge.

I'm just now reading "Then End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sachs. It's pretty good, tales of economic success and failure in the trenches of the third world. If you read it, I'd appreciate your Euro-African prespective on what he has to say.

John

Well, at least let them smoke pot.

Thanks, Rich

More like IMmoral agenda. ;-)

CHeers! Rich

Well said.

For me, mainly the "education" thing. Which extends so many ways - from seeing religion/superstition/brainwashing in perspective, through to not being threatened by alternatives, through to realistic project management. Etc.

Re women: I'd agree re Africa and the Middle East (hide their hair/faces? Guys, deal with it, or wear blinkers). However, here at home.... soaps? reality TV? Vanity commercials? Cosmetics? Hair? "Fashion"? 4x4/SUVs? Hmmm. I think we need some education too. I spend a very large part of my life wishing we (males and females) in the West weren't so complacent, vapid, and shallow. Compare our obesity to Darfur or Ethiopia, and it's obscene. Not just embarassing, or simply humbling, but "f*** me - what a bunch of spoiled wossnames we are".

"Threatened by alternatives" - not just Africa, but the rest of us too.

Steve

It's not equating a death sentance with a given culture. It's a given *behavior* that is at risk.

Ed

Just about 100% is not 100%. It is not a solution for the AIDS problem, but in the end with the situation as it is, would probably be the actual solution to the AIDS problem in Africa.

Yes, that is true, but I meant exploitation in its negative aspect. The type of exploitation as shown in the documentary "The Corporation".

Just as Africans are seen by many Europeans and Americans as a very homogenic group, Africans tend to see Amercians and Europeans as a homogenic group.

Yes, Europe and the USA do provide losts of aid, but at the same time they provide huge subsidies to their own farmers, and lots of restrictions for other countries to sell their agricultural produce. The problem is that many third world countries can only sell agricultural products to earn foreign currency. Reducing the subsidies and restrictions would provide much more and much better aid to third world countries.

There is a big difference in cultures in the cities and the country side. I believe one would experience this even in first world countries, but it is very marked in Africa. In South Africa as in many European countries (France in particular), the political power yielded as a % of total population by the people living outside the cities is disproportionally large. This often slants goverment policy and laws to a large degree.

I will see if I can find an ebook version. Paper versions cost 2 to 4 times the dollar list price by the time one buys them in South Africa. Do you have an ISBN number ?

Regards Anton Erasmus

Here it is, one of those absurd URLs...

He talks about a number of the things you mention. For a macroeconomist, he's remarkably pragmatic.

John

Green Chartreuse anyone? Akavit? Tuaca? I prefer B&B to Benedictine. Of course tequila for ordinary booze. And wines for any time, and barley pop.

Yup, right on the spectrum next to Yukon Jack.

John

"Yukon Jack"?? Is that the whiskey equivalent as Thunderbird or Ripple are to good wine?

...Jim Thompson

Some preying mantises start the banquet early - they bite the heads off the male as soon as they've got started, and they still keep going for a couple of hours.