I recently came across a phrase that just about summarises the reverence which a majority of Kenyans seem to have for “technology” in the abstract. The writer made reference to “the cult of technological utopianism”. As I see it, this Kenyan cult has strong roots in the phenomenal success of mobile telephony in general, and the Safaricom M-Pesa mobile phone cash transfer system specifically. Then came the wonders of the mobile phone and to crown it all, M-Pesa, which we can now honestly say that most Kenyans simply cannot live without. And from this it was but a short hop to the technological utopianism that I recently read about.

Source: The Star February 12, 2019 21:45 UTC