[maxklein]

One core difference that I notice between Africa and the West, irrespective of the current development stage, is that people in Africa are mostly optimistic that things are better than the were, and they are expecting things to get much better. So they see the future as being bright and full of opportunities.

People in the west seem to have the opposite viewpoint - the see the past as having been better, and the future bringing doom and gloom. So their outlook is pessimistic.

So there is much more of this lets-work-forward energy in Africa.

[yardie]

And they would both be right. Both cultures are approaching the future from very different socioeconomic positions. In the past (30-40 years ago), things were bad in Africa. At any point 3-5 countries were engaged in civil war, despotic rule or famine. At the same time the west were doing incredible scientific achievements, building wealth and living longer lives.

If you're at the bottom you can only go up. Now that Africa is getting into the resources business in a major way the infusion of cash can only accelerate this.

On the other hand, many western countries are now trying to figure out how to survive in a world they have largely built. The price for information has fallen but the price for most goods have gone up (especially food and oil). There are many that grew up with what their parents had and realized they might not be able to have that lifestyle, and it scares them.

Edit: I'd also like to add that Africa's economy has been growing for years. There are 49-50 countries all moving very quickly but all the western news wants to report about is the few problem areas with wars, dictators and famine. Hardly anything was spoken about the farming commodities market in west Kenya going fully computerized in '05.