Boy Scares off Lions with Flashy Invention

Article Summary:

A Kenyan boy, named Richard Turere, devised an innovative solution to protect his family’s livestock from lions. After observing that lions were afraid of humans with moving flashlights, this 11 year old African boy came up with a simple low-cost system to scare away the predators. Richard wired flashing LED lights to a switch box, and an old car battery powered by a solar panel. The lights were then placed around the livestock pen and designed to flicker. It tricked the lions into believing they were humans with flashlights. Richard was able to devise and install the complete invention by himself, without any knowledge in electronics or engineering.

Richard’s system has worked perfectly and is now being implemented all across Kenya by farmers. It also protects the population of lions. Since his invention, Richard has been invited to speak at the TED 2013 conference and has received a scholarship at Brookhouse International School, one of Kenya’s top institutions. Richard now hopes to grow up to be a pilot and an aircraft engineer. Anything is possible for this 11 year old boy from Africa. Richard’s example shows the concept that 100 percent of information (natural laws + initial conditions) is accessible by everyone. It is the limitation of a person’s perspective that determines how their life will end up.

Article Reference:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/26/tech/richard-turere-lion-lights/index.html

Comments (5)

Hossein Vashani

February 9, 2014

I agree with Wessam and Saransh. This boy is Type A person. In this case, he had the ability to discover and consider all conditions and natural laws so he could predict the result precisely. He is not expert but he considered and got dominant information. Maybe, there are some expert people who can not suggest a useful solution for different problems. They are theoretically really strong but they are Type C people who do not discover and consider dominant information. They usually stuck in complexity. The solution that this boy has executed is really simple but seems really complex when you have not discovered it yet.
Steven Sifferman

February 8, 2014

Not only was Richard able to identify a problem and find a solution, but he also created a device from the basic technologies available to him. Richard had the dominant information to invent his “scare-lion.” He showed incredible resourcefulness in helping his family and other livestock owners across Kenya.
John

October 18, 2013

This is a good example of using the information around you and applying it. Richard is not an expert, but by using what he could he was able to put it together. The dominant information made his decision making much simpler, allowing him to fend off lions.
Saransh Noel Prasad

October 14, 2013

Richard Turere is a clear example of a Type A person, or atleast the fact that he was able to perceive the information quickly and apply it just as quickly. Given the fact that he implemented the whole system without having any prior knowledge of the subject thus substantiating the fact that with more dominant information available on the event, the event becomes simpler. IMT states the very same in theorem 22 and is one of the underlying principles of IMT.
Wessam Saleeb

October 12, 2013

As for the future, he says “One year ago I was just a boy herding my father’s cows. Now I want to be an engineer and pilot.”
Richard Turere went through the cycle of learning and quickly “changed” his vision by Perceiving,Processing ,Applying.
Also can be considered as a type (A) person for having most of the LS characteristics such as being using “dominant information” to go through a “win-win” equation by “not abusing” lions.

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