Another one for Africa! Take a guess. What is the fastest growing city in the world?
I am not sure if you have ever seen the film "Idiocracy"? It has a pretty interesting story line. Without giving too much of the truly shallow plot away, here's what the movie is about:
- In evolutionary terms the fittest species survive, while the weaker species die out.
- Perhaps some of the things that we have come to value are not exactly what the 'evolutionary' universe values as 'fit'.... FOR EXAMPLE,
- In the movie the 'average' middle class American couple (with good jobs, a nice house with a mortgage, two cars etc.) are too busy with their lives, their careers, and their debts to have children - or they are so precise about planing when and how to have their children that they end up with NO kids, or if they are brave enough to throw caution to the wind they may have 1 child (because let's be honest, you can't afford to educate, clothe, and care for more than one child with only TWO salaries these days!)
- The 'Jerry Springer' crowd (what the Americans would call Trailer Trash, and the Brits, Chavs), however, procreate indiscriminately, or at least that's what the film suggests. Mothers will often have more than one child from more than one father, whilst fathers will often father more than one child with more than one mother... You get the picture. So, the average 'in discriminant breeder' will have say, 8 children in their lifetime.
- Now, if you do the Math you will see that the 'clever', cautious people, will eventually die out. If they are lucky and had a child, their one child, who is well educated, and has a good career, and wants to make sound financial choices, MAY have 1 child him or herself, but then again this person may choose not to have any children at all. However, the less clever, hell for leather, breeders will each have 8 children who in turn will have 8 children.... You get the picture.
- What is the long and the short of it? The breeders, not the thinkers, survive. And because the breeders are supposedly less clever (according to the movie) their children share in that same gene pool, which gets weaker with each successive generation.
- Watch the movie - what you end up with is... let's not say anymore.
Anyway, if that is the case then I think we are on a fairly good wicket here in Africa. You see (and here's the amazing jump) we have the world's FASTEST GROWING CITY! It is Lagos in Nigeria.
Now please hear me clearly I am NOT saying that Nigerians, or the citizens of Lagos, are NOT clever! In fact quite the opposite... I think it is great that we have a city in Africa that is growing.... Who knows, if the movie idiocracy is indeed true, we could find ourselves as the ONLY survivors on planet earth!?
Amazing!
Lagos is now considered the 'New York' city of Africa! If you don't believe me follow this link and watch the video report....
Technorati tags: idiocracy, evolution, Lagos Nigeria, fastest growing city in the world, extinct
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