Sen Talks About Development

Michael L. Best, a faculty associate of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, opened the “Communication in Human Development: The Freedom Connection” event last night by reaching into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone. He flipped the device open and said, “Hello? Mom? I told you I had an event tonight!” and consequently sparked a discussion about the role of technology in advanced countries and the developing world.

The event was sponsored by the International Development Research Center, an organization that has pioneered the use of technology as agents for reducing poverty, combating disease, and fostering good governance through global engagement.

The afternoon’s discussion was guided by Best, who moderated the event, and a group of panelists including two Nobel Prize winning economics professors, Harvard’s Amartya K. Sen and Stanford’s A. Michael Spence. They were joined by Law School Professor Yochai Benkler and Clotilde Fonseca, a Founding Director of the National Program of Educational Informatics in Costa Rica.

While much of the discussion centered around how technology could be deployed as a tool in international development, some time was also devoted to a range of issues including economic competition and regulation, policy implications of technology, climate control, and technological fluency.

“You are either a part of the technological community or you are left out,” Fonseca told the audience. “The digital divide is also a cognitive divide about the capacity to solve problems in your community.”

The panelists eagerly took on difficult issues such as the need for a focus on gender in development practices, and the role of the “food first, freedom later” doctrine of society building.

“As a student of economics, I always wonder about the mechanics of the technological process,” said Gerardo A. Flores ’11, who worked as a programmer in a developing country this summer. “It’s awesome to have people who have thought hard about these issues in one room, and see how it plays out.”

Although the panelists doubted some facets of the technological explosion, all expressed some hope that technology could act as a catalyst for advancement in the developing world.