Taran, I wish you'd reconsider your "basic economics": for example, your
belief that $480 that stays in India to buy a computer is "better" than
buying one elsewhere for $300. That may not sit well with those in India or
Africa who have to buy a computer. Ghana, where I work, is richer than some
of its sub-Saharan neighbors: $400 US is what the average Ghanaian earns a
year, a year's earning not quite enough to buy your Simputer.
And I wish you'd reconsider conclusions like this one:
<<If you've ever had to share one computer with 20 people, and it was your
only access point, I doubt you would be able to email as often. You
wouldn't have leisure time to read articles that *you* might find
interesting.>>
I've had to share buses and trains with many people, and you're right: it's
not nearly as convenient as owning my own automobile. And I've had to get my
learning at public schools, not nearly as convenient as private tutoring.
And I've had to borrow books from a public library, not nearly convenient as
buying my own and owning them.
And I've used computers at libraries and internet cafes, and you're right:
sharing a computer is not nearly as convenient as owning one.
And I ask you to consider that your convenience argument is misleading, and
downright harmful.
If we insist on private automobiles, millions will be continue to be without
rapid transport, and we will continue to foul the environment.
And if we insist on personal ownership of books, millions will not read,
even if we cut down enough trees for all those books.
And if we insist on the personal computer, billions will not cross the
digital divide.
If the advantages of the Simputer at $480 are so much greater than that of
the desktop at less, let's urge small churches or cafes or schools in the
poorer nations to buy one or two or three and share them, until such time as
the folks in the community can afford to buy their own.
<<In the focus on the reduction of cost, I sincerely believe by these
communications that the increase in quality of life as the *value* has
been lost.>>
You may have it backwards, Taran. Those who insist on personal automobiles
and personal libraries and personal computers may be the ones who are
slowing down the erasure of the many divides between the haves and the
have-nots.
Steve Eskow
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