4 ms·

Holy hell, what are these comments. A group of girls form a pretty messed up country had the willing and the guts to go ahead and submit anything to this compe

by orf 9y ago

Holy hell, what are these comments. A group of girls form a pretty messed up country had the willing and the guts to go ahead and submit anything to this competition, knowing full well they would be at a disadvantage compared to other first world countries, and coming from a very male orientated culture. Their parts where late and they only had two weeks to build it. Meanwhile a single accurate quote about how they where disallowed entry into the US overshadows all commentary here, with people insinuating that their robot was rubbish and it's just a political hitpeice, consolidation price means nothing etc. Get a life and grow up, I'd like to see you have the guts to try anything like this, even with your inherent advantage of living in a first world country.

nasredin 9y ago
Not to mention they are likely risking their lives in doing this. (Americans should know by now Taliban's stance on girls and education. US has been in that country since October 2001 FFS IIRC.)
- tenpies 9y ago
  That seems like a big assumption. There is a very rich upper class in Afghanistan that lives a nearly-Western lifestyle. If a student is female (1), in a robotics class (2), attending a school that had a robotics class (3), and planning a trip abroad to compete (4); the chances that their lives were at risk is zero. These girls are most likely going to an international school in the safest part of the country. It is expected that they will go to university abroad and after this experience, I'm sure a good number of doors opened up for them.
  - kaitai 9y ago
    How does that square with the news that the captain's father was killed in a suicide bombing just four months ago?
    - kaitai 9y ago
      In addition, further reporting about that story indicates that at least the team captain's family is poor: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/world/asia/afghan-robotics-girl-father-killed-suicide-bombing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/world/asia/afghan-robotic...
hutzlibu 9y ago
Well, it is a highly political topic. And I found no article yet, with technical details, about what they technically actual accomplished. The Reuters article is especially lacking any information, except stating that they succeded technically, but faced problems at the US border before and the latter they repeated many times, not just one quote. So it looks a bit missleading and I would not call it journalism, if there is a agenda with it. And this seems to be the case here - directed against Trump and his Afghan ban etc.policy. I mean sure, personally I despise that as well and I am highly against restricting people from going somewhere else, just because of their origin. And the girls are definitely courageous(their captains dad was killed by a suicide bombing this year) and maybe even did an outstanding job given their bad starting conditions ... but I saw nothing convincing so far, like the article implys, that they build even remotely something like this: "The team’s winning entry was a solar-powered robot that would help small farmers carry out tasks including seeding and cutting crops like wheat " I read something about designing flyers, etc. for this product, which sounds more plausible - as designing an actual robot, even only with lego, who does remotely, what the quote says, is huge work and not doable with access to good education. Which they don't have. So yes, I think they deserve praise for doing something while coming from where they are, but if news imply to me they did more, than they did(and possibly could do), for political reasons, even with good intentions, you could call it propaganda. And I think this is not helping. As then also people like me, who have lot's of sympathy for disadvantaged people at tech - and beeing a girl from Afghanistan is probably as disadvantaged as you can get, get the impression, that they mainly won their price because of being who they are and not what they did. And this is a shame, because maybe they are even technically very gifted and did outstanding. But now I mistrust the whole thing ... and possibly also the next thing I hear from high tech girls from Afghanistan ... (edits: updadet a bit)
- onetimeusename 9y ago
  One of the reasons, I assume, it is difficult to gain access to the US, even for teams of student-scientists, is because of things like this happening https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/07/23/mystery-deepens-after-african-teens-vanish-u-s-robotics-fair/502903001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/07/23/mystery....
- 9y ago
aquadrop 9y ago
No need for the "think of the children"-like narrative. People just want to know more information, nowadays there's so much false and twisted info/news on the internet that's it's no surprise people are skeptical, especially if the article doesn't give much info, who are those girls, what exactly did they build etc. I'm sure if it's a real deal they will get their deserved prizing.
eighthnate 9y ago
> and it's just a political hitpeice It is a political hit piece no better than awarding obama a nobel prize before he did anything as president. I'll make you a bet. There will be a syrian or a refugee who will "win" a prize in the next few years. > Get a life and grow up, I'd like to see you have the guts to try anything like this, even with your inherent advantage of living in a first world country. What's strange is you attack people and the moderators aren't censuring you. All you are doing is appealing to the "feels". Should we make a mockery of science just for your "feels" and to push a political agenda? Anyone remember the clock in a suitcase boy a few years ago? The exploiting and ruining the good name of science in order to push a political agenda?
- pjc50 9y ago
  All of the Nobel peace prizes are political. Including Kissinger's.
  - eighthnate 9y ago
    Sure. But most people don't understand that. They think it is like the nobel prizes in science - based in achievement.
pimlottc 9y ago
> consolidation price I assume you meant "consolation prize".
pjc50 9y ago
I'm reminded of the Naomi Wu controversy; people just assume that they're not "legitimate". Also people fail to understand that this is not "reporting" in any sense, nor is this unusual - it's a press release that has been sent out verbatim as wire copy through Reuters. It's entirely routine for startups etc to send these things out and they just get printed as-is. Hence the lack of detail.

by orf 9y ago

nasredin 9y ago

Not to mention they are likely risking their lives in doing this. (Americans should know by now Taliban's stance on girls and education. US has been in that country since October 2001 FFS IIRC.)

tenpies 9y ago
That seems like a big assumption. There is a very rich upper class in Afghanistan that lives a nearly-Western lifestyle. If a student is female (1), in a robotics class (2), attending a school that had a robotics class (3), and planning a trip abroad to compete (4); the chances that their lives were at risk is zero. These girls are most likely going to an international school in the safest part of the country. It is expected that they will go to university abroad and after this experience, I'm sure a good number of doors opened up for them.
- kaitai 9y ago
  How does that square with the news that the captain's father was killed in a suicide bombing just four months ago?
  - kaitai 9y ago
    In addition, further reporting about that story indicates that at least the team captain's family is poor: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/world/asia/afghan-robotics-girl-father-killed-suicide-bombing.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/world/asia/afghan-robotic...

hutzlibu 9y ago

Well, it is a highly political topic. And I found no article yet, with technical details, about what they technically actual accomplished. The Reuters article is especially lacking any information, except stating that they succeded technically, but faced problems at the US border before and the latter they repeated many times, not just one quote. So it looks a bit missleading and I would not call it journalism, if there is a agenda with it. And this seems to be the case here - directed against Trump and his Afghan ban etc.policy. I mean sure, personally I despise that as well and I am highly against restricting people from going somewhere else, just because of their origin. And the girls are definitely courageous(their captains dad was killed by a suicide bombing this year) and maybe even did an outstanding job given their bad starting conditions ... but I saw nothing convincing so far, like the article implys, that they build even remotely something like this: "The team’s winning entry was a solar-powered robot that would help small farmers carry out tasks including seeding and cutting crops like wheat " I read something about designing flyers, etc. for this product, which sounds more plausible - as designing an actual robot, even only with lego, who does remotely, what the quote says, is huge work and not doable with access to good education. Which they don't have. So yes, I think they deserve praise for doing something while coming from where they are, but if news imply to me they did more, than they did(and possibly could do), for political reasons, even with good intentions, you could call it propaganda. And I think this is not helping. As then also people like me, who have lot's of sympathy for disadvantaged people at tech - and beeing a girl from Afghanistan is probably as disadvantaged as you can get, get the impression, that they mainly won their price because of being who they are and not what they did. And this is a shame, because maybe they are even technically very gifted and did outstanding. But now I mistrust the whole thing ... and possibly also the next thing I hear from high tech girls from Afghanistan ... (edits: updadet a bit)

onetimeusename 9y ago
One of the reasons, I assume, it is difficult to gain access to the US, even for teams of student-scientists, is because of things like this happening https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/07/23/mystery-deepens-after-african-teens-vanish-u-s-robotics-fair/502903001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/07/23/mystery....
9y ago

aquadrop 9y ago

No need for the "think of the children"-like narrative. People just want to know more information, nowadays there's so much false and twisted info/news on the internet that's it's no surprise people are skeptical, especially if the article doesn't give much info, who are those girls, what exactly did they build etc. I'm sure if it's a real deal they will get their deserved prizing.

eighthnate 9y ago

> and it's just a political hitpeice It is a political hit piece no better than awarding obama a nobel prize before he did anything as president. I'll make you a bet. There will be a syrian or a refugee who will "win" a prize in the next few years. > Get a life and grow up, I'd like to see you have the guts to try anything like this, even with your inherent advantage of living in a first world country. What's strange is you attack people and the moderators aren't censuring you. All you are doing is appealing to the "feels". Should we make a mockery of science just for your "feels" and to push a political agenda? Anyone remember the clock in a suitcase boy a few years ago? The exploiting and ruining the good name of science in order to push a political agenda?

pjc50 9y ago
All of the Nobel peace prizes are political. Including Kissinger's.
- eighthnate 9y ago
  Sure. But most people don't understand that. They think it is like the nobel prizes in science - based in achievement.

pimlottc 9y ago

> consolidation price I assume you meant "consolation prize".

pjc50 9y ago

I'm reminded of the Naomi Wu controversy; people just assume that they're not "legitimate". Also people fail to understand that this is not "reporting" in any sense, nor is this unusual - it's a press release that has been sent out verbatim as wire copy through Reuters. It's entirely routine for startups etc to send these things out and they just get printed as-is. Hence the lack of detail.