The potential for progress and poverty alleviation in Africa relies on capital generated from the power within our minds, not from our ability to pick minerals from the ground or seek debt relief and foreign assistance. If ideas are capital, why is Africa investing more on things than on information, and more on the military than on education? Suddenly, I realized what this idea could mean for Africa. If the pen is mightier than the sword, why does a general earn more than the work of a hundred writers combined? If ideas are indeed capital, then Africa should stem its brain drain and promote the African Renaissance, which will lead to the rebirth of the continent. After all, a renaissance is a rebirth of ideas. And knowledge and ideas are the engines that drive economic growth. When African men and women of ideas, who will give birth to new ideas, have fled to Europe and the United States, then the so-called African Renaissance cannot occur in Africa. It can only occur in Paris, London and New York.

This is an excerpt from a thought-provoking Keynote speech delivered by Philip Emeagwali at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

READ THE ENTIRE SPEECH @ this Mental Revolution Blog

http://think2wize..com/2010/09/where-is-africa-going-wrong.html

Great man!

Wetin make am great?

How can a massive fraud and an embarrassment to all African scientists and intellectuals and to black people in general, advise anybody on anything? The man is a graduate school failure (notice I didn't say "dropout." Some graduate school dropouts go on to become very successful) who never contributed anything to anybody, especially Africa.

EzeUche22:

Great man!

Great at begging for internet fame?

PhysicsQED:

How can a massive fraud and an embarrassment to all African scientists and intellectuals and to black people in general, advise anybody on anything? The man is a graduate school failure (notice I didn't say "dropout." Some graduate school dropouts go on to become very successful) who never contributed anything to anybody, especially Africa.

What made you come up with this notion of him?

PLEASE STOP THIS STALE AND EMBARRASSING PROPANGANDA.

All these people do is hate hate hate.

Nobody's hating. He's a preposterous and embarrassing fake. He deserves the contempt.

Nigerians should learn to heap praise only on those who deserve it.

Philip Emeagwali is a big fraud and an embarrassment to us all.

^^^^^^ you guys should enlighten us more how is he a fraud?

Yes what makes him a fraud if you cannot explain that statement keep it to yourself.

kuramo:

Nigerians should learn to heap praise only on those who deserve it.

Philip Emeagwali is a big fraud and an embarrassment to us all.

People heap praise on dictators and our thieving politicians.

But when it comes to a scientist, you foolish people hate hate hate. And you cannot say he is not a scientist. Bill Clinton references him, BBC interviewed him, CNN did a story on him. Are you saying that these organizations did not vet him?

Get out of here with your nonsense.

This man is the greatest scientist Africa has ever had,if you doubt it then google this \"who is the father of internet\"

patrick89:

This man is the greatest scientist Africa has ever had,if you doubt it then google this \"who is the father of internet\"

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

Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, OM, KBE, FRS, FREng, FRSA (born 8 June 1955,[1] also known as "TimBL", is a British engineer and computer scientist and MIT professor credited with inventing the World Wide Web, making the first proposal for it in March 1989.[2] On 25 December 1990, with the help of Robert Cailliau and a young student at CERN, he implemented the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet.

thats the real father of the internet , not that quack who keeps trying to pass off a gordon bell prize as a nobel prize

This is the same fake Phillip Emegwali?! The same Phillip Emegwali that FALSELY proclaimed himself "Father of the Internet"?!?! The same fraud in the middle of the "Gordon Bell" fiasco? Well, then again, he's Ibo. . . . .

I rest my case!

df2006:

^^^^^^ you guys should enlighten us more how is he a fraud?

Below.

http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/inventions/emeag.html


Philip Emeagwali myths

This page briefly addresses some specific claims appearing on Emeagwali's self-promotional website and elsewhere. For a more in-depth discussion of Emeagwali's "outright lies, half-truths, and numerous unsubstantiated claims," see the article Self-Promotion and Self-Authentication: "Father of the Internet" by Chioma Ezeilo.
http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/cezeilo/2003nov09.html

MYTH #1:
Emeagwali made the "world's fastest computation" in 1989

Each year since 1987, the judges for the annual Gordon Bell competition have given out multiple prizes for supercomputing applications, usually including one for performance (fastest speed), and one for price/performance (best speed/cost ratio; specifically, "price-performance ratio as measured in megaflop/s per dollar on a genuine application".

Despite what you may have read on the Internet, the 1989 prize for the fastest performance was awarded not to Emeagwali, but to another entrant:

In the performance category, we awarded the prize to a team from Mobil Research and Development and Thinking Machines Corp. [, ] Their solution of a seismic data-processing problem ran at almost 6 Gflops on a CM-2 Connection Machine.

"Special Report: 1989 Gordon Bell Prize," IEEE Software, May 1990, p. 101

The winning speed of 6 Gflops was almost double that of Emeagwali's entry (3.1 Gflops, a speed that Emeagwali has repeatedly misrepresented as the "world's fastest". The Mobil/TMC team achieved the best price-performance ratio too, but since no entry was allowed more than one prize, the price/performance award passed to Emeagwali (who also used a CM-2 Connection Machine) even though his score in that category was about 20% worse than the leading score:

We awarded the price/performance prize to Philip Emeagwali [, ] His model ran at a price/performance of slightly less than 400 Mflops per $1 million. While the Mobil/TMC team achieved almost 500 Mflops per $1 million, we decided to award only one prize per entry.

"Special Report: 1989 Gordon Bell Prize," IEEE Software, May 1990, p. 101

See the yearly results for the performance and price/performance categories. In no year did Emeagwali achieve what he claims he did.

MYTH #2:
Emeagwali won computing's equivalent of the Nobel Prize

In spite of efforts by Emeagwali and his admirers to hype up his $1000 Gordon Bell award as the "Nobel Prize" of computing, the rest of the computing world continues to associate that lofty label with the Turing Award, which Emeagwali has never won. The Gordon Bell prize, however, is just one of many other annual computing awards, respectable but not at all comparable to either the Nobel Prize or the Turing Award in prestige or prize money. Nor are the selection criteria analogous: Emeagwali was awarded for his performance in an annual competition, not in recognition of lasting contributions to his field.

MYTH #3:
Emeagwali is a "Father of the Internet"

1. Emeagwali's paternity claims to the Internet are judged and found baseless. Emeagwali has not shown any evidence that he was involved with ARPA or any other research organization or company connected with the genesis of the Internet, nor did he express his ideas in technical journals or any other channel through which he could have influenced the development of the Internet during its formative stages.

2. Is there a father of the Internet? A discussion of the main contenders: JCR Licklider, Bob Taylor, Paul Baran, Donald Davies, and Lawrence Roberts.

MYTH #4:
The "Connection Machine" was invented by Emeagwali

A few Web sources expand the fallacy that Emeagwali created the fastest computer program, insisting that he was also responsible for the massively parallel supercomputer on which the program ran. However, the 65,000-processor "Connection Machine" that allowed such speedy computations was actually the brainchild of Danny Hillis and was built by Thinking Machines Corporation, the company Hillis co-founded. The fact is extensively documented on the web and is so well established that I won't devote more attention to it.

MYTH #5:
Emeagwali has lots of patents or patent applications

The number of Emeagwali's patents or patent applications is sometimes claimed to be as high as 30. However, a search of the USPTO and esp@cenet patent databases (as of September 2003) reveals the true number to be zero. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which has a fully searchable online database for all U.S. patents since 1976 as well as all current applications, simply has nothing on file for Emeagwali.

MYTH #6:
"Dr." Emeagwali?

Emeagwali is frequently referred to on his own and other websites as "Dr. Philip Emeagwali" or simply "Dr. Emeagwali." Though he did in fact enroll in a PhD program at the University of Michigan, he did not get the degree after failing his qualification examinations twice and having his thesis rejected by a committee of faculty members. Emeagwali subsequently sued the university, alleging civil rights violations and racial discrimination. His case was dismissed without trial. When Emeagwali appealed to a higher court, a three-judge panel rejected his discrimination claims unanimously.

article describing the court decision
decision from the MI Court of Appeals.

^LMAO!

though idk who to believe, it would be hilarious if the dude just made up all those achievements and got rich off it

if the white man try as much as he can to downplay, the achievements of emeagwali, the least i will expect is help, to further diminish him, from black and nigerian brothers like him, fact is, he did something outstanding, wether he,s, was fastest internet or not.
my brothers wether you are yoruba ibo or hausa, you are just a black man in the eyes of the world.
think!!!!! leave emeagwali out of our differences.

I'm disappointed with most of you.I posted this thread for us to sing the praises of our own intellectual giant whose role is being played down by racist white and fellow Nigerians chose to further use tribalism to pull him down. Sorry, Follem, I am sure the likes of you would rather celebrate football and movie stars who have multiple divorces, promote materialism and indecency than a man that could challenge the white man's brains. I'm sure you are more at home with the 419ers and looting politicians than a man that refuse to scramble for the national cake,rather decides to fight for black interest. If he is fake many foreign universities and media organisations wdnt have been inviting him.

Even if his computation was the tenth fastest in the world, how many Blacks have achieved such feat?I am really disappointed in u and other nigerians who would rather look at his Igbo origin than his "Nigerianness".

Many of u critics have never achieved anytn of repute in Nigeria let alone the world. I am not surprised anyway the greatest critic of the rich are the poor: Envy, Hatred and anger are part of their lifestyle, they are always angry at life
Grow up folks

^^^

not everyone is an ignorant lout who falls for the shenanigans of cheap charlatans

the philip emegwalis of this world are one of the reasons why nigeria will continue to be backward - because we celebrate incompetence and deceit and chastise those who question as 'bad belle people'

ajoguegbe:

I'm disappointed with most of you.I posted this thread for us to sing the praises of our own intellectual giant whose role is being played down by racist white and fellow Nigerians chose to further use tribalism to pull him down. Sorry, Follem, I am sure the likes of you would rather celebrate football and movie stars who have multiple divorces, promote materialism and indecency than a man that could challenge the white man's brains. I'm sure you are more at home with the 419ers and looting politicians than a man that refuse to scramble for the national cake,rather decides to fight for black interest. If he is fake many foreign universities and media organisations wdnt have been inviting him.

Even if his computation was the tenth fastest in the world, how many Blacks have achieved such feat? [/b]I am really disappointed in u and other nigerians who would rather look at his Igbo origin than his "Nigerianness".

[b]Many of u critics have never achieved anytn of repute in Nigeria let alone the world. I am not surprised anyway the greatest critic of the rich are the poor: Envy, Hatred and anger are part of their lifestyle, they are always angry at life
Grow up folks

Dude, you've got to grow up first !!! ROFLMAO!!!
I

ajoguegbe:

I'm disappointed with most of you.I posted this thread for us to sing the praises of our own intellectual giant whose role is being played down by racist white and fellow Nigerians chose to further use tribalism to pull him down. Sorry, Follem, I am sure the likes of you would rather celebrate football and movie stars who have multiple divorces, promote materialism and indecency than a man that could challenge the white man's brains. I'm sure you are more at home with the 419ers and looting politicians than a man that refuse to scramble for the national cake,rather decides to fight for black interest. If he is fake many foreign universities and media organisations wdnt have been inviting him.

Even if his computation was the tenth fastest in the world, how many Blacks have achieved such feat?I am really disappointed in u and other nigerians who would rather look at his Igbo origin than his "Nigerianness".

Many of u critics have never achieved anytn of repute in Nigeria let alone the world. I am not surprised anyway the greatest critic of the rich are the poor: Envy, Hatred and anger are part of their lifestyle, they are always angry at life
Grow up folks

Thank you.

df2006:

if the white man try as much as he can to downplay, the achievements of emeagwali, the least i will expect is help, to further diminish him, from black and nigerian brothers like him, fact is, he did something outstanding, wether he,s, was fastest internet or not.
my brothers wether you are yoruba ibo or hausa, you are just a black man in the eyes of the world.
think!!!!! leave emeagwali out of our differences.

Well said.

the problem with Nigerians is that we have selective amnesia and are easily satisfied with an aorta of progress. We celebrate mediocrity; that's why IBB and Odili are coming back to wipe Nigeria out of human existence. We blame white men for everyfn and yet our politicians ship our resources to them for keeps, young Nigerians flock white men's embassies every day looking for greener pastures. We LOVE things made by white men and yet we claim that they hate to see us proper. Truth be told, we really hate to see us prosper. Emeagwali is not the type of guy we should be celebrating.

Agreed. He deserves some level of criticism for his self promotion. But what you can't deny is the EFFORT he put in a field traditionally dominated by white males. I can't begin to imagine the negative biases he may have come under from a society where no one takes a black scientist seriously. Not even blacks themselves.

I've read some of his articles and you'll have to travel far and wide to find anyone one who has a similar depth and grasp in their analysis of pressing African issues .

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.

[center]William James[/center]