A Billion More People Are About to Transform the Internet | The Future With Hannah Fry

Summary

In this episode of 'The Future With Hannah Fry,' Professor Hannah Fry explores the transformative potential of internet expansion in developing regions like Nairobi's Pipeline neighborhood. As innovative technologies bring digital connectivity to these areas, another billion people are expected to get online in the next five years. The episode uncovers how local entrepreneurship, driven by global tech initiatives like Google’s high-speed internet projects, is reshaping communities, providing new business opportunities, and improving educational access. However, it also highlights challenges like inadequate skills for online engagement and the exploitative nature of digital labor markets.

Highlights

• Pipeline, Nairobi's neighborhood is buzzing with new internet connectivity. 📶
• Google’s stratospheric internet balloons are replaced with laser-based tech. 🚀
• Residents turn internet access into local enterprises tapping new markets. 💼
• Skills centers teach digital literacy to unleash the internet’s educational potential. 🎓
• Content moderators in Kenya face harsh conditions for global tech giants. ⚖️
• Tech experts in Nairobi aim to drive African-origin solutions globally. 🌐

Key Takeaways

• The internet is set to welcome a billion new users from developing regions! 🌍
• Innovative technology like Google's internet-beaming lasers are breaking connectivity barriers. 🌐
• Local entrepreneurs are transforming internet access into business opportunities. 📈
• While bringing global connectivity, tech giants face questions over digital colonialism. 🤔
• Skills training centers are crucial for meaningful digital inclusion. 💡
• Content moderation jobs highlight the darker side of online work. 🚨
• Africa's tech innovation is poised to make significant global impacts. 🌟

Overview

In 'The Future With Hannah Fry,' we dive into the digital revolution sweeping through Nairobi's Pipeline neighborhood. With limited public amenities, residents are seizing newfound internet access to create local business opportunities. This shift is powered by advancements like Google’s ambitious internet-beaming laser technologies, aiming to connect millions of people across developing regions.

Despite the promise of digital empowerment, the episode discusses the ethical complexities surrounding big tech’s expansion. Concerns of digital colonialism arise as low-paid content moderation jobs expose workers to psychological distress, highlighting the exploitation risks intertwined with these neoteric transformations.

However, it's not all bleak—skills training hubs and tech incubators are incubating local talent, offering a glimpse into Africa’s potential to disrupt the global tech scene. These endeavors not only aim to elevate local innovation but also position African-born solutions for international influence and success.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Pipeline: The Neighborhood with No Schools or Running Water, but Access to Smartphones The chapter introduces Pipeline, a vibrant and densely populated neighborhood in Nairobi known for its bustling activity with hawkers, young families, and traders. Despite a lack of public schools, limited access to running water, and no waste collection, the area uniquely boasts accessibility to brand new smartphones.
• 00:30 - 01:00: The Internet's Impact on Current Users and Future Expansion in Developing Countries This chapter explores how the internet has profoundly changed the lives of its 5.4 billion current users by democratizing information and creating significant wealth. It highlights the contribution of local individuals like Elias and the implementation of innovative technologies in expanding internet access, particularly in developing countries.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Tim Berners-Lee's Vision for the Internet and the Three Billion Still Offline This chapter explores Tim Berners-Lee's vision for the internet, highlighting both its potential for positive impact and the challenges it brings. It mentions the internet as a platform that can empower humanity, but also as a place where negative behavior can flourish. Looking forward, it predicts that another billion people will be online within 5 years, especially in regions like Kenya and the developing world. Professor Hann Fry, a mathematician and writer, seeks to understand the influence of the internet.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Distinction Between the Web and the Internet Infrastructure The chapter discusses the evolution of the internet and its infrastructure, beginning with Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web in the late 1980s. It explores the ongoing transformation and expansion for the next billion users coming online and debates whether big tech corporations or the users stand to gain the most from these developments.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Challenges of Connecting Remote Locations to the Internet The chapter discusses the aspiration for an open internet platform that allows global sharing of information and collaboration. Despite these goals, 35 years later, three billion people remain unconnected, a challenge noticed by Silicon Valley.
• 05:00 - 06:00: Google X's Project: Using Light Beams to Deliver Internet The chapter discusses the strategic interest of internet giants in connecting people who are currently offline across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. This demographic is seen as a vast untapped resource due to their potential as future internet users. The chapter also clarifies a common misconception between the web and the internet, explaining that the web is the visible collection of web pages, while the internet is the broader network infrastructure that supports it.
• 06:00 - 07:00: A Demo of Google's Light Beam Internet Technology The chapter explores the physical infrastructure of the internet, particularly focusing on the network of cables that span across lands and under the sea floor. These cables are responsible for connecting machines and transmitting vast amounts of data through pulses of light. While it is highlighted that no individual company or government owns the internet, the chapter acknowledges the role and investment of large companies like Google and Amazon in its infrastructure. The Internet is portrayed as an organically growing entity, yet emphasizes the financial responsibility needed for its development and maintenance.
• 07:00 - 08:00: The Commercial and Benevolent Aspects of Google's Internet Projects This chapter explores Google's ongoing efforts to increase internet connectivity across the globe, focusing on the challenges and solutions related to the 'last mile'—the final step of the internet connection process which is often the most difficult and costly, particularly in remote areas. The chapter highlights Google's innovative approaches to overcoming these challenges, reflecting both commercial interests and their broader goal of enhancing global online access.
• 08:00 - 10:00: Elias Mugo's Entrepreneurial Journey: Sharing and Reselling Google Internet This chapter delves into the entrepreneurial journey of Elias Mugo, focusing on his innovative venture of sharing and reselling Google internet services. The narrative begins by exploring a significant project undertaken by X, Google’s research arm known for its ambitious projects, also referred to as the 'moonshot factory.' The chapter recounts X's extensive nine-year effort to establish a global network utilizing large stratospheric balloons designed to beam internet connectivity to remote areas. Despite the project's eventual discontinuation, the initiative laid foundational insights for more grounded technological advancements. This section sets the stage for understanding the contextual and technological backdrop against which Elias Mugo's entrepreneurial efforts are framed, highlighting the intersection of high-tech innovation and practical business solutions.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Impact of Internet Access on Business and Education in Urban Centers The chapter discusses the innovative approach of using light beams for high-speed internet data transmission, as part of Google's efforts to expand internet access globally. Mahesh Christnas Armi, the technical lead, highlights the technology's simplicity, requiring only power terminals to establish connections. This advancement aims to bring internet connectivity to remote areas, impacting business and education in urban centers by bridging the digital divide with these pioneering technologies.
• 12:00 - 14:00: Challenges of Bringing Internet and Skills to Rural Areas The chapter 'Challenges of Bringing Internet and Skills to Rural Areas' discusses an innovative technology that allows data transmission without laying fiber optic cables. Instead of laying costly fiber, the setup uses fiber optic cables to transfer data, which is then converted into light energy and transmitted wirelessly. Terminals are fixed onto cell towers, allowing communication through extremely narrow beams of invisible light. This is demonstrated using a laser pointer, showcasing how these methods can help overcome the barriers of bringing internet connectivity to rural regions.
• 14:00 - 16:00: Center for Women's Empowerment: Digital Skills Training in Rural Kenya The chapter explores the practical challenges faced by technicians in maintaining cellular towers in rural Kenya. The discussion is framed around a training session at the Center for Women's Empowerment, where participants are taught to target a terminal on top of a cell tower while accounting for external factors like wind and temperature changes. The chapter highlights the precision required and the real-life conditions that affect the stability and functionality of cellular infrastructure.
• 16:00 - 18:00: Kenya's Digital Sector and Content Moderation Challenges The chapter delves into Kenya's burgeoning digital sector and the challenges that come with moderating content in this rapidly evolving environment. It discusses the intricate balance of managing live digital content, exemplified by the technical adjustments involving mirrors in T terminals, which are used for precise alignment—an analogy highlighting the meticulous effort required in digital content moderation. The conversation references the live adjustment processes as a metaphor for the constant vigilance needed in handling digital content precisely and effectively.
• 18:00 - 21:00: Content Moderation in Kenya: Moes Oang's Story and Unionizing Efforts In this chapter, the focus is on content moderation in Kenya, specifically through the experiences of Moes Oang and the efforts to unionize workers in this field. The text uses an analogy with laser beam internet technology to illustrate the precision and dedication required in content moderation. Just like aiming a laser over a distance of 10 to 20 kilometers with the expectation of perfect accuracy, the work of content moderation involves meticulous attention to detail and unwavering focus. The story emphasizes the challenges and aspirations of moderators who strive to improve their working conditions through collective action.
• 21:00 - 24:00: Adenan Labs: Developing Local Tech Talent and Solutions The chapter discusses the groundbreaking advancements made by Adenan Labs in developing local tech talent and solutions. A key highlight is the ability to deliver extraordinarily high-speed internet, with speeds reaching tens of thousands of megabits per second, coupled with low latency connections, all at an affordable price. This innovation is described as a 'Game Changer'. Additionally, the chapter touches upon Google's significant investment in this technological leap, emphasizing its success as one of Google's 'moonshots' that has effectively transformed global connectivity.
• 24:00 - 25:00: Conclusion: The Internet's Role in Entrepreneurship and Global Connectivity The chapter discusses the dual role of technology companies, like Google, which aim to operate at the intersection of purpose and profit. It emphasizes how these companies can contribute to global entrepreneurship and connectivity. The underlying message is that technological advancements can be enduring businesses that use profitability to scale goodness and make the world a better place.

A Billion More People Are About to Transform the Internet | The Future With Hannah Fry Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 this is pipeline a thriving densely packed Nairobi neighborhood bustling with Hawkers young families and Traders this is where you grew up yeah I was rais in this place there are no public schools here there's limited access to running water and no rubbish collection but there is one service you can get there's stalls that are selling like brand new smartphone
• 00:30 - 01:00 yeahuh thanks to local residents like Elias and some radical new technology from further a field more and more people are getting [Music] online the internet has altered life beyond recognition for its 5.4 billion current users it has democratized information and produced staggering Fortune
• 01:00 - 01:30 while also emboldening some of the worst aspects of humanity a breeding ground for abuse and exploitation as the tech World expands its digital Frontier in 5 years another billion people will be online here in Kenya and across the developing world I'm Professor Hann fry mathematician and writer I want to know how the internet
• 01:30 - 02:00 Revolution Will unfold for the next billion online and whether it's big Tech or users you have the most to [Music] game it all began with a very well-intentioned Vision in the late 1980s when Tim bernes Lee was inventing the worldwide web he
• 02:00 - 02:30 said he wanted it to be an open platform that would allow everyone everywhere to share information access opportunities and collaborate across Geographic and cultural boundaries and to be fair that is sort of what the web became except that some 35 years on there are still three billion people on Earth who are not online and that is a fact that has not gone unnoticed by people in Silicon Valley
• 02:30 - 03:00 for the internet Giants our attention has become a virtual Gold Mine which means that they see the people who are not yet online across Asia the Middle East and Africa as a vast untapped resource the challenge is getting them connected I know that people use the words web and internet interchangeably but they are actually different things the web that's the bit that you see on your screen it's the collection of pages the stuff that is is stored in vast data
• 03:00 - 03:30 centers owned by companies like Google and Amazon the internet however that is the physical infrastructure it's the network of cables running over land and along the seaf Flor that literally link up one machine to another carrying huge volumes of data encoded in pulses of light now no one company or government owns the internet it's like a organically growing beast but of course someone has to pay to create create
• 03:30 - 04:00 those connections and for the last bit that last mile where the connections are the most numerous the economics can be harder to stack up especially in remote locations so building that last mile needs Creative Solutions if you're in the business of getting more people [Music] online finding a creative solution has long been an ambition of Google
• 04:00 - 04:30 notoriously secretive research arm called X the moonshot factory here they spent 9 years trying to build a Global Network of giant stratospheric internet beaming balloons before scrapping the projects and bringing their ideas back down a little closer to Earth in the most basic terms possible yeah what on Earth are you building what on Earth we building building here is a technology that can
• 04:30 - 05:00 use beams of light to transfer high-speed internet data Mahesh christnas armi is the technical lead for Google's most recent attempt to bring high-speed internet to the farthest flung corners of the earth okay talk me through it then how does it work so um what you have here is a a simple power terminal this is one end um and you need two of these in order to make a link we able to use the
• 05:00 - 05:30 data that's coming in from fiber optic cable and transfer it into light energy and transmit it wirelessly so it's just like fiber yeah but you don't have to lay any fiber in between to avoid the difficulty and expense of putting ever more fiber into the ground they fix to terminals onto cell towers and have them communicate using incredibly narrow invisible beams of light demonstrated here with a laser pointer and this very fetching hat you
• 05:30 - 06:00 are going to be a cell tower sure okay on top of you is one of our terminals so your goal is to basically stand on this little wall and try and Target that it's one thing for me to hit the bullseye from just a few meters away oh my God in real life this is exactly how much the cell towers move as well wind and temperature changes cause Havoc for cell towers
• 06:00 - 06:30 so to compensate inside each T terminal there is a set of mirrors to constantly fine tune their aim what you see here is the movement of the mirror that is happening in order to make sure that is all centered oh so the beam is live right now is it the beam is live so why don't you yeah just block it you'll see it so now but look there too as you block it you see all the things that a SC yeah and the mirror is having to adjust really dramatically it's working its way around my hand is it exactly it's working on your hand
• 06:30 - 07:00 clever this ability to stay on target is vital if you want to beam internet over huge distances in the real world how far apart do these sit when they're out there typically I know most of our links we have deployed are somewhere between 10 to 20 km so that is pretty far I mean what you're doing is crazy you're shining this laser beam that's like the width of a chopstick across 20 km and you're expecting it to hit the target perfectly that's right absolutely
• 07:00 - 07:30 extraordinary it is and so and it works it's out there working it's out there we're currently talking about speeds of tens of thousands megab per second fact that we can deliver very high speeds low latency connections at a very affordable price that's the most Game Changer out of all of these things this is one of Google's moonshots that does work mahesh's boss astr tell explains not skates but why they've invested so much in bringing the world World
• 07:30 - 08:00 online this isn't like Google doing this out of the goodness of their hearts alone right there are are there advantages to this the Google everyone here at X understands that we're trying to exist at the intersection of purpose and profit I believe that there's plenty of ways we can make the world a radically better place and use the fact that those things can be enduring businesses that the profit actually enables that goodness to scale to the whole world there are things that would
• 08:00 - 08:30 be really good for the world but are just going to lose money forever that's not how we want to spend our [Music] time turning a profit while making the world a better place is a laudable aim but what is it mean for the people at the other end of the [Music] technology now welcome to my humble pal this is a barber shop the time
• 08:30 - 09:00 Electronics yeah even shoes I do sell shoes but right now I've eaten the stock you're an entrepreneur hey I'm entrepreneur in 2021 Elias Mugo borrowed cash from a friend to hook up to one of Google's Tara connections recently installed on a cell tower a few blocks away and it quickly got the neighbors attention when I was using it there's my friend came and told me can you can you supply me to my house and I was like I
• 09:00 - 09:30 can try well so you took your your internet split it off you're getting now we are sharing I added another person now those two people are paying for my intervie yeah yeah so I continue I say let me add again let me add again so I have 1 2 3 4 5 six so all of these are going up to Flats upstairs yes so how much do you make now for all of these for all of these around 10,000 that's amazing
• 09:30 - 10:00 10,000 Kenyon Shillings or around $75 us is a healthy additional income here and all from sharing one internet connection many times at a low price every single person is also getting their internet cheaper than they would if they went straight you're a very clever man I'm trying yeah is Google only discovered this kind of local Enterprise when the number of Connections in pipeline vastly out stripped contract
• 10:00 - 10:30 sold but instead of cracking down they realized local residents are much better placed to connect people now Elias and others like him have become official internet resellers what does it mean to a place like pipeline to get the internet here it will be a source of business to somebody like me and uh means of information there are people who study yeah people who go online classes so it
• 10:30 - 11:00 is helping them yeah like access to education yeah access to education because accessing education is far from this place there are some people who say that the big tech companies who are installing internet in places like this that they're trying to basically get more customers because sort of run out of customers everywhere else what do you think about that okay first of all as a company to install a
• 11:00 - 11:30 internet around such place the one who saying oh they trying to get customer well and good it's s of business as entrepreneur T I agree with that because it will help me grow at the same time I've helped you to grow it's a great thing [Music] yeah this place feels very very very very far away from that Google X lap this is where I think that you see the genuine impact that the internet can
• 11:30 - 12:00 have on people's lives not just in terms of access to information access to the outside world but also the business opportunity that it actually presents not just for people in Silicon Valley but for people here too the fact that the internet coming in here then gets split off into 30 different directions is just the best evidence of that when we left California I was still maybe a tiny bit skeptical having been here genuinely I think this is a win-win for
• 12:00 - 12:30 everybody Google's Optical internet is now rolling out across pilot sites in Africa and India but the opportunities that the internet brings to Urban centers like pipeline aren't guaranteed to automatically benefit everyone in Kenya 70% of the population live in Far More remote areas where the internet is a long way away from being part of daily life and there are different challenges to it becoming
• 12:30 - 13:00 so welcome to our Cent Dr Judy mcka was born and grew up here and now with her colleague Dr Unice aino has come back to support local people that lack the basic skills and opportunities to get online here in curo the the child goes to the coffee Farm in the morning in the evening tea Farm then milking the cow
• 13:00 - 13:30 you know the difference is World apart when you just bring internet and dump it here without uh trainings and some basic skills on how to navigate they cannot do it I mean this is quite a rural area right is that how people feel yes and they are not happy they actually they feel like they were left out there's something really interesting in that I think the internet where we are now it's it's infiltrating in the basic life of every person but the the rural people
• 13:30 - 14:00 have never seen that in 2017 Judy and Unis founded the Center for Women's empowerment in technology to make sure that youth and particularly girls don't miss out on the potential benefits of internet access we have like three different programs running here we have the general digital skills word processing Exel and then interneta internet internet is actually
• 14:00 - 14:30 the last topic this isn't just about browsing this is bringing the global Marketplace to these kids and inviting them to actively participate we have quite a number of them who are now earning jobs online we have jobs online uh content writing transcription you can see they look different because now they they are exposed and they earning some money oh really they look different what is in like they're wearing or like confidence
• 14:30 - 15:00 even confidence they have more Authority so when they come with stories of their success stories they motivate the ones that are currently going on and then in here we have for the current class it's graduation day graduating is not the end this is a beginning so this is where your Digital Life Begins these are the places where jobs and access to high quality education are scarce that perhaps have the most to gain from coming online but it will
• 15:00 - 15:30 require more than internet beaming laser devices you need centers like this to help ensure the positives reach everyone digital Technologies is the way to go so congratulations thank you [Applause] yeah the Kenyon government has recognized the potential that technology
• 15:30 - 16:00 offers its population and are investing heavily in its fledgling digital sector even building a new techhub from the ground up and so with high-speed internet access and a young population hungry for work and opportunities Kenya is an attractive place for global companies to Outsource online jobs I got the job in April so that's few
• 16:00 - 16:30 months few months yeah let's say maybe five months yeah yeah just months shortly after graduating from University Moes oang was employed as a Content moderator he describes his job as watching hours of incredibly disturbing videos every day to protect the rest of us from The Nightmare of seeing them I don't I don't know if people in
• 16:30 - 17:00 general realize that content moderation involves people like you physically sitting down in front of a computer and watching stuff for every platforms like human beings need to be there because it's human beings who can properly detect you know and know what is right and what is wrong and was it very traumatic for me I'd say um it was very traumatic uh even up to dat there are some videos that um I'm
• 17:00 - 17:30 still lingering on my mind you know I'm still struggling with you know the PTSD the insomnia I came to view society as a totally different you know like you peaked inside the inner lives of people in a way that the rest of us haven't yeah C moderators were basically the First Responders I equate them to like people who go to war you know to defend a country so as you're defending the uh I'd say the morality and the sanity of people are using that uh uh
• 17:30 - 18:00 platforms for such an important job moer says he was paid $200 a month less than half the average income in Kenya and nine times less than content moderators earn in the US and here Mo says the role comes without appropriate psychological support it's raised accusations of a kind of digital colonialism big tech companies extracting online labor for minimal cost how do you square that Circle then if
• 18:00 - 18:30 you have to have humans doing this we had a meeting of over 250 moderators based here and then we just sat down shared our our working experiences but at the end of the day we sat down and decided you know what for us to move forward we need to have a union for ourselves we know uh the challenges that we face as a uh people work in this industry and the only solution that can make both the multinational companies
• 18:30 - 19:00 and their Outsourcing Farms to listen is with the power of unity alongside the fledgling African content moderators Union Moz is pushing for better pay conditions and a recognition that without their work our shared online spaces would quickly become unusable I think the thing about the internet is that it's obviously the very good stuff but we don't want to see the bad stuff and I think it's very easy to
• 19:00 - 19:30 just ignore the invisible work that's going on behind the scenes that in order for you to have a safe polished glossy experience you have to have people exposed to the worst horrors of humanity I mean that's a that's that's that's the price that has to be paid by somebody I just I'm not sure I feel comfortable about them being paid 50 $ a week for doing
• 19:30 - 20:00 so as the internet continues to be rolled out across the world jobs like this in an Ever growing digital sector will be created but the biggest profits will continue to be amassed by giant tech companies far from places like Kenya unless local companies can enter the game and that is what a team of tech experts based here in Nairobi aims to do [Music]
• 20:00 - 20:30 this time we're saying no we are going to build Solutions uh for not just ourselves but also for the other Market Irene Kia is one of the founders of adenan labs a company that wants to grow African wealth by investing in a new generation of tech talent and Innovation we have trained of the largest amount of data scientists in
• 20:30 - 21:00 Eastern and central Africa but also we do a lot of R&D we have built solutions for Health Care Financial uh Services agriculture Logistics education we don't have Legacy infrastructure so we're able to really innovate the historic lack of public services here has one upside it means that much more modern solutions have space to grow if I ask you today Hana where are your health records frankly I
• 21:00 - 21:30 mean they should all be in the same place but where are they no idea exactly one of our Flagship products is AIA record to um Power patients with a platform where they can store manage and access their health information we had to map out the full healthc care Journey hospitals pharmacies diagnostic Centers and all that and then we built portal for all of that so that we can really power an industry and it's all linked to
• 21:30 - 22:00 individual patients how many people are using it we currently have around 150 hospitals across Africa which is around 350,000 patients and uh we're scaling it not just here in Africa but also in Europe and in the US and interestingly it's built on the blockchain you know so um it's it's a very secure secure plantform yes amazing very impressed the team here are solving local problems but they still have a
• 22:00 - 22:30 global market in their sites you know Africa being quite behind in the digital Revolution compared to other places is sort of a challenge but in a way the way you're describing it is though it's this giant opportunity massive opportunity massive opportunity in so many ways because we need technology that is going to take us to somewhere where we can really change The Narrative of this continent wealth creation being a very key thing we need to really prepare our youth so that they
• 22:30 - 23:00 are ready to not just over the continent but support the world you know so that's that's our vision I think before I started making this film there was something that sat a bit uncomfortably about big tech companies coming into subsaharan Africa in order to find new customers this is a place that has historically been very exploited and I I still think that's a legitimate concern but I also think that
• 23:00 - 23:30 this is a place that is completely fizzing with entrepreneurs and Enterprise and I think for those people having the internet is not about inviting the rest of the world in it's about sparking and igniting and accelerating local Solutions local growth and hopefully local companies that will will in turn go out to affect the rest of the world Tim beny I think he he got absolutely right when he said that the
• 23:30 - 24:00 Internet isn't about connecting machines it's about connecting people because I think if you have another billion people online that's not just going to affect them it's going to affect all of us [Music]