phones and human welfare

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

[was: RE: [PEN-L] Cuba: siempre con combate] 

Ulhas writes: > 75% Singaporeans, 50% Malaysians & 33% of Thais
have cell phones. How many cell phones Cuba has?<

it seems to me that cell phones are at best a mixed blessing. (I have one, but I hate it: it rings when I'm driving, so I either have to pull over to talk or drive in a risky way. This morning it interrupted a good song by Townes Van Zandt.)  They are only really necessary if the land-line system is broken for some reason. If you see phones as part of some sort of human development index, it would be as "cell phones _plus_ access to land-lines" or something like that. 

In any event, there's no way one could reduce human welfare to either cell phones or all phones.

jim devine