If you had to choose one technology that has done the most to transform peoples’ lives for the better in the past forty years, you could make a strong argument for cellphones. While people in the US have the first world privilege to complain about wasting time on their phones, millions of people in the developing world are using their cellphones to pull themselves out of poverty, move from subsistence farming to global markets, access credit and bank the unbanked, and learn about the broader world.

In this episode, Paul is joined by Katherine Clayton, founder and CEO of Omnivis, a startup that has created a smartphone-based device to cheaply and quickly test for cholera in water. Then he is joined by Marian Tupy and Chelsea Follett from Human Progress to talk about the transformative effects of cellphone technology.

What is the social and economic impact of cellphones in the developing world? How can cellphones be used as medical devices for people who do not have access to medical facilities? Do we rely too much on cellphones?

Further Reading:

OmniVis, Rapid Cholera Detection Platform

Human Progress

The Miracle that Is the Smartphone, written by Marian L. Tupy

Mobile Connectivity in Emerging Economies, by Laura Silver, Aaron Smith, Courtney Johnson, Jingjing Jiang, Monica Anderson, and Lee Rainie

Related Content:

Has Your Phone Hacked Your Brain?, Building Tomorrow Podcast

The World is Getting Better (with Marian Tupy), Free Thoughts Podcast

Making the World Better, written by Aaron Ross Powell

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