What is Digg?102 Comments
- SuperMank, on 10/12/2007, -2/+40From the OLPC wiki:
"It should be mentioned that a common criticism of the project is to say, "What poor people need is food and shelter, not laptops." This comment, however, is ignorant of conditions in improvished nations around the world. While it is true there are many people in the world who definitely need food and shelter, there are multitudes of people who live in rural or sub-urban areas and have plenty to eat and reasonable accommodations. What these people don't have is a decent shot at a good education." - goodoldharris, on 10/12/2007, -6/+42The goal of the project is to help bridge the digital divide between rich and poor countries. Even if it's nowhere near a perfect solution, it's still a start. Even if 20% of the computers make it to kids in classrooms, that would be a good thing, and much better than doing nothing.
(The $100 laptop project was launched by faculty at MIT. It's not at all a "government idea", as the writer calls it.) - neko, on 10/12/2007, -2/+37"Give a man a fire and keep him warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he will be warm for rest of his life."
-- Terry Pratchett - wintermd, on 10/12/2007, -28/+62"Even if 20% of the computers make it to kids in classrooms"
Right... Just ask Farm Aid, or Africa Aid, a series of concerts by the "To do gooders". All the money was to go to Africa and the kids. ALL the money was stolen by the governments there. Not one dime made it to their intended user.
My prediction. NOT ONE laptop will make it to a classroom. Its just that corrupt in the 3rd world.
My solution. Let Bill Gates and his foundation work the issue. At least Bill has a track record of getting results. - azzageddi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33Maybe the computers will lead to better-educated kids, who grow up to lead their country into economic improvements that will result in the eradication of these diseases.
Yes, we need to help poor countries out with building wells and helping fight diseases and all that, but I really don't think we'll ever really solve their problems for them, not completely. If they really want to enter the first world, they're going to have to do it themselves. We can help, but they're going to have to be the prime movers. Educational improvements will pay the biggest dividends in the long run. - mookieXL, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27Not.having.spacebar.would.make.those.laptops.even.cheaper.
- jav1231, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24I'm frankly shocked at the level of "piss and moan" from nearly everyone about this project. You expect it from MS, "Waaah! We're not involved/making a dime/getting any publicity from this!"
But everyone else is going the "wouldn't it be better to feed/clothe/hug them?" There is already billions being poored into Africa to feed them. Is it enough? Is it too much? I don't know. This project is addressing a specific issue in a way that it can.
Think of it this way. A carpenter, a doctor, and a farmer all want to help a poor country. The carpenter says, "I have a hammer. I can build them a house!" The doctor says, "I have medecine, I can treat the sick!" And the farmer says, "I have seeds and a plow, I can feed them!" What I'm seeing here is a bunch of people far removed from the situation bitching because the farmer doesn't have hammer. - bobbles, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20Broken spacebar?
- timmclargehuge, on 10/12/2007, -14/+29I don't know why everyone is digging down wintermd, he's right. I guess some people don't want to face reality and would rather throw money down a rathole and feel good about themselves than do any actual good.
Also, the corruption found in the third world is what causes the poverty found there. Until corruption is cleaned out the third world will be the third world. - neko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14If they don't need the internet, then I'm sure you could manage without it.
So they'll get FC5 experience. So, that could become an important qualification over there, because FC5 could become dominant there. And if not, well, it's at least ~some~ experience. I learned to program on a BBC Model B with 32K of RAM. I don't use it today, but it was damn helpful.
They needn't learn about the "US porn industry", they can make their own industries. Porn included. As for education, don't assume that the internet is just the interwebs either. If it can connect people from across the country who would otherwise never have met in real life, it's something good. It can be a start. - honeycut, on 10/12/2007, -7/+21As the adage goes, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever".
Yes, I know. It is I, Captain Obvious in person. - porter235, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14"Everyone on digg should realize that the internet is not an education."
You should remember that the project was started by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which also has a great Opencourseware project. http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html - Godel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15According to the logic of this article we shouldn't send food to third world countries either.
- Genma, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14"A hammer can be used to build a house or to beat someone to death; similarly, a PC can educate and enlighten, or it can give the %u201CMugu Guymans%u201D a cheap means (complete with wireless internet) by which they can perpetuate criminality."
no doubt more than a few of these laptops will fall into the wrong hands eventually, but I'm sure they sell hammers there too. - stoffe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Interesting idea. I pay $200, get one and a child gets one for free. Then I have a specialized little cool computer, with free software and available tools, that I can hack on and help improve - and contribute back for later versions. For fun, learning or for making a better world or whatever my drive may be.
Everybody wins (well maybe not Microsoft, but hey...)
Ok, so most or all development can be done without having a laptop of my own. Still, that is not half as fun. - Hortos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Alot of the bitching would be stopped if they just sold us the things too. I'd pay 200 dollars and they could send me one and another one to a child for free. As a tech for a school district I see mountains of unused computers gathering dust all over schools so if we can't use computers here I doubt they're going to find compelling reasons for use in a 3rd world nation. Maybe when in 30 years when the majority of teachers have been computer literate since their youth then we'll see more use in the classroom but as of right now average child is far more advanced than their non-technical class teachers and thats in America. 3rd world nations nobody involved in the education system for huges chunks of area is liable to be very advanced with a computer.
- ishmal, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12So, unless these things can be constrained to only operate in a moral manner, don't produce them? This is akin to the Indian argument that these might degrade traditional values. But that's cool. Just getting these arguments into the open is a bit of progress.
One argument that always disturbs me is the "this money is better spent on X" whine. For every advocacy group in the world, there is always something that must be done first. A computer is useless without food aid first. Food aid is useless without medical aid first. Agricultural aid first. Jobs first. Land reform first. Investment first..... The list of items which must take priority cascades seemingly forever. How much more profitable it is to think orthogonally. This is attacking the problem of poverty and ignorance from a different angle. There are organizations for those other worthy goals. Other pots of money. This is not stealing from them. This complements them.
Education and technology will of course not help with the present dire needs in many places of the earth. But what a wonderful concept, that maybe, ten or fifteen years from now, the NEXT generation might be spared this misery? - bobzibub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Yes, they are "nattering nabobs of negatism".
What warlord/corrupt official is going to want a $100 computer when they can get much more expensive ones???
Do not listen to the detractors. - macewan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I so want to own one of these
- troydoogle7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Heres something a bit controvertial......
I think that a charity should sell the laptops to westerners.... however charge 300USD. The deal is you buy one for yourself and they will use the remaining money to donate 2 computers to a developing nation/charitable group. Selling 1000 of these computers that way would generate 2000 free computers for a developing nation.
300 USD is not a lot to spend for a lot of people in the uk/usa/europe and as a bonus you get the good feeling knowing that you are helping another 2 people on their first steps to computer geekdom...
Digg up if you agree..... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Don't worry, you'll be able to buy one VERY soon when they start hocking them for food.
- WhiskerTheMad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Here we go again, with the western imperialist thinking: "Third world countries can't help themselves! We, as *civilised* people have to provide clean water, food, and cures for disease."
This nonsense completely ignores the possiblity that *they could help themselves,* or help us help them, with some education. Why do you insist on assuming that everybody outside the US in an intellectually stunted hardscrabble monkey who can't ever do anything unless a beneficent superpower hands it to them? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Oh STFU!
It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with their criminal track record. Perhaps you might learn proper reading comprehension next time you try to pipe up with an ignorant "OMG THAT'S RACIST!!111!!" comment.
The same argument would be made if these were going to corrupt areas of Russia. - mikeoh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I think this article is a little too cynical stating all the laptops would go to the hands of criminals and not their intended audience of school children. Maybe some will, but we need to give these people a chance to get educated and get a better standard of living. If some go to criminals so be it.
I say if these people become educated they may not to need to resort to criminal enterprise to make a living! - somerandomnerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5The $100 laptop is an educational tool.
What, did you think it was to introduce Africa to Doom, to wean them onto CS:S and eventually sell them WoW subscriptions? - macewan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5with the price of education what alternative do they have?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It will never cease to amaze me how an awful 'article' like this can get over 500 diggs and make the front page...ugh.
- LordBritish, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Race card played. That took a while.
Not everything that shows black people in a less-than-fantastic light is racist, no matter how much you want it to be. - blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -10/+14Huh, 20% is a bit low though :-) That would make an average 500$ laptop per kid that actually gets its.
Great project still. I'd also love to be able to purchase one, just to hack with it, even slightly more expensive. Also it could be great for very small children. Eg. Introducting a 4 year kid to computing for 100$ is less risky than let him play with your new macbook pro. - annonimality, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11@ wintermd
Farm Aid??? Farm Aid was a benefit concert to help family farmers here in the United States. You're saying the U.S. is a third world country? - tonylownds, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4
USA highest in crime? Er, no.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1910000/images/_1913618_int_murder2_300.gif - annonimality, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The laptops will actually sell for $140.00 per unit, so you'll have to spend a little more than that. Also, in order to keep the price point low, the laptops are sold in very large volume (>= 1,000,000 units), so you'd have to get a bunch of your friends to buy one also :)
And considering the screen resolution is only 640x480, I don't think I would want one at any price. - MrLobster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Interesting headline, idiotic "news"
The hidden danger is that some of the laptops don't go to children? Oh crap, just forget about the whole thing then! - arpad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Oh, it's more then nice, @zybch, to give each child in underdeveloped countries a laptop, it's also something that can be done if you got enough money to throw at the problem.
Contrast that with your idiot's list. Just how do you plan to get safe drinking water to those kids? Run a garden hose from your parent's backyard to the kid's squalid hovel? Eradication of malaria was effectively accomplished with the control of malaria's primary vector, the mosquito by....wait for it....DDT! When you get that garden hose stretched out to where it's needed, dysentery ought to be put right so get busy on that.
Finally, this "need" in preference to the laptop: non HIV infected parents. You want to give me a clue how you plan to pull off that miracle by discarding the OLPC?
There's plenty enough wrong with the OLPC project as it is. There's no need to criticize the project for spending their money in a different way then *you* might spend it.
One of the big, big things wrong with this project is the naive assumption that the computers will get to the poor kids they're aimed at. If they can be resold at a profit it'll be the government officials that get their sticky mitts on the computers who'll steal them, literally, wholesale. After all, would go their thinking, the computers are worth real money, why let ignorant, dirty children get it? Of the laptops that do make it to their intended owners, how many will end up being sold to pay for more urgent necessities or even to fund dad's regretful taste for cheap liquor?
If Negroponte et al were actually interested in using computer technology to help the poor of the world they'd do it in a manner that makes sense given the realities of third world nations.
One perfect example of the penetration of technology into the target nations is the phenomenon of the cell phone.
No one has to buy the natives cell phones. They see the utility of them immediately. Given the execrable nature of most third-world government-run phone systems, reliable, accessible, affordable, flexible communications sells itself. No need to worry about government corruption siphoning off the phones, the cell phone importers are strongly motivated to make sure that doesn't happen or if it does, to make sure they still have enough for their paying customers. Which they do. No need to mold them in garish colors to make them more difficult (yeah, right) to steal. No need to put up with the idiotic demands of government officials (mold 'em in the national colors or else!) who have nothing at stake or woo those officials to put up money they can't find a way to put in their pockets.
The basic problem with the OLPC is that it isn't being done for those big-eyed, pot-bellied kids who live in conditions I, thankfully, don't have the experience to imagine. The basic problem with the OLPC is that it's Nicolas Negroponte's way of getting a Nobel Prize or his face on a stamp or his bust at the UN for his nobility. The joke is that what Negroponte fails to do for lousy reasons a couple of avaricious Chinese engineering students will do to fund the purchase of their BMWs. - knightwalker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5This article is lame, stupid and offensive...
The "peril" of the $100 laptop is that email scammers might use them? Why don't you just lock them up in a cave so they won't be able to hurt you any more by asking you for your money...
Idiot. - JrGhoull, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2just like the laptop, the internet is a tool that can be used for education. they can learn history, math, read stories, all sorts of great stuff. over the mesh network, it will allow for more productivity by using LAN (classroom) chat rooms as a way for students to have discussions and allow the teacher far better control of the situation, than ever before. thanks to the internet, they will have access to tools/information that they never have and could/would never have had otherwise.
- redkev, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2How many of you have ever actually worked in international development? Most of these comments seem to be from individuals living in the comfort of a developed country. Is the $100 laptop a good idea? Definitely! Will some of them fall into the wrong hands and be misused? Definitely! Is there an ever increasing digital divided in the world? Definitely! Is computer literacy and broadband access a requirement for future generations, no matter where they live? Definitely! Finally, I have lived and worked in developing countries for the last 21 years of my life. By the way, I think this story is stupid!
- Desertsnowman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Here in South Africa, there has been interest in it. But I think our government should really focus more on getting teachers and school before they even consider getting the laptops.
- LivingRoom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I remember reading about this laptop in the 2005 NY Times Ideas Issue, which is their annual 'year in review' of great ideas.
These laptops are a brilliant idea because they give the rest of the developing world a way to communicate with each other and with us.
This is from the NY Times Ideas Issue - you may have to register as a user to their site in order to see it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/magazine/11ideas_section2-11.html?ex=1154404800&en=e3f065b78b9e3823&ei=5070 - ryanjulian, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7yes, corruption is an issues in many third world countries, but not all of them, and the solution is a simple one. Don't give anything to the countries who don't behave. It should be noted that these governments are corrupt largely because they're so poor...not an excuse...just a pretty consistent correlation. As letting millions of people die just because their government is corrupt is hardly humane, inroads need to be made the change this, but for the meantime witholding aid will just have to do. However, many African countries, such as Ghana, have good governance, and those should receive the aid they deserve.
Also, as for the "they don't have water or medical, why are we spending money on laptops?" comments, the thing is that if we ever want these countries to pull themselves out of poverty and participate in the world markets, they need functioning economies, and a large part of that is education and technology. The OLPC will work toward serving both of those goals. AIDS and water are more important, mind you, but all of it will be for naught if they can't eventually sustain themselves, and that problem can't be attacked from just one angle. It's like paving a road but leaving out a few bridges, the whole road is useless because it goes nowhere. - addw, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4ryanjulian said: "It should be noted that these governments are corrupt largely because they're so poor", or perhaps that should be: the reason that they are so poor is because they are corrupt.
One of the worst of these is Mugabe's Zimbabwe. It used to be a prosperous country before he started ''rewarding'' all of his mates.
OK: corruption is not the only reason, but often plays a big part. - stuffhappens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"Already, the governments of China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand have expressed an interest"
If you're gonna try and a be a pseudo journo by bottom feeding off other peoples' hand-me-down-news blogs, at least verify whether the current info posted is accurate.
The blog was posted on 29th July, yet on 26th July, The Times of India was reporting that "The HRD [Human Resource Development] ministry has rejected the idea of 'one-laptop-per-child' (OLPC)"
" It would be impossible to justify an expenditure of this scale on a debatable scheme when public funds continue to be in inadequate supply for well-established needs listed in different policy documents," the ministry said." - Eronysis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No criminal left behind!
- Melio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2it's cute, it has ears (the laptop)
- psylence, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Amen, it's kinda stupid to write about the "perils" of the $100 laptop, then write 1 lame "peril".
A quick look at his site and yeah... It's a bit of a joke. - DrNoDoze, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Although on the surface i like this idea, it does strike me as just another example of neo-colonialism. I have concerns about what type of infrastructure exists in terms Internet connectivity. If this would give the kids, or families access to the Internet i can see alot of benefits. @zybch many people in the third world have a lack of credible sources of information. On of the causes of the aids epidemic is ignorance. There are still people in Africa that think that sex with a virgin will cure aids. My thought, although perhaps naive, is that giving a kid or adult access to a site like WebMD would be a life changer. @arpad not all clean water comes from a garden hose. There are many ways of purifying water. Many of these methods are described in detail on various web sites. This could also be very useful. I do agree that corruption is a huge issue.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Good we'll start with you. From here forward you are not to have any kids. If in the unfortunate even you already have kids, they will be surrendered to those families without kids - one child per family.
- ASimba, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The idea is novel and a step in the right direction; it's part of a package solution if it's to work effectively. This is only the front-end for proper education to take place, but the infrastructure (ie. water, electricity, wifi-access, etc.) needs to be in place as well. Teachers need to be shown how to use this new tool effectively, and thus will open doors for young minds... which was the original intent of OLPC. The issue with corrupt governments needs addressing if the laptops are rolled out without these proper infrastructures in place.
- math0ne, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It seems to me that every nigerian scammer that succeeds brings the the line between the rich and poor closer. If some rich ***** american gets scammed by some poor dude from nigeria for every one of these thigs that they buy, it'll still not even scratch the serface of the devide in wealth between the countries.
- aesho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It really comes down to the content on the computers, and how the recipients will learn to actually use them - otherwise it's a $140 shovel. I would imagine that the first thing the computer does would be a reading lesson?
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