The fault in our Starlink narratives

Addressing the nascent computer industry in 1990, information theorist Neil Postman questioned the unspoken assumption that the capacity to process information is at the heart of society's ills.

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"If children die of starvation in Ethiopia, does it occur because of a lack of information?" he asked. "Does racism in South Africa exist because of a lack of information? If criminals roam the streets of New York City, do they do so because of a lack of information?"

Postman's prophetic words are important to remember in the aftermath of last week's Oval Office sitdown between President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation.

In that infamous meeting, South Africa's richest man Johann Rupert pleaded the case that the country's police stations are in desperate need of Starlink — the communication technology controlled by the world's richest man, Elon Musk.