> Assertion? Do explain your authority on Africa to me. As someone who has family in Africa, right now...
If we're making comparisons of experience I lived in Africa for over 30 years. But that's not relevant. Changing the subject from substance to authority is not a good sign: appeal to authority is a logical fallacy for a reason.
But " I lived in Africa" is not right. Africa is big and diverse. Nobody lives in a continent, they live in a city in a country, and statements like "Africa is a failed continent" are too vague to even be wrong. They cannot be founded in anything other than blind prejudice.
Large parts of Africa are developing rapidly ( http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21572773-pride-africas... http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/01/11/sorry_but_a... http://www.vice.com/read/is-this-the-century-of-africas-rise...), and technologies like this could help - not just help, could be profitable commercial ventures.
> I am confident in my assertion
What I meant was, citation needed. More assertions of the same are not needed.
I couldn't care less if these blimps are deployed to Dakota, Wyoming, and other parts of America as well. Maybe it makes economic sense for google to do it there as well. But google has done the math and determined that it makes sense to do this in parts of Africa, and for some strange reason they aren't dissuaded by random afro-pessimist commenters on hn.