Mr. John C. Dvorak is an angry man. Or is it just me? Hi manny. :)
On Dec 7, 2007, at ,Dec 7, 5:49PM, Manny wrote: > One Laptop per Child Doesn't Change the World > by John C. Dvorak > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2227872,00.asp > > Does anyone but me see the OLPC XO-1 as an insulting "let them eat > cake" sort of message to the world's poor? > > Hands Across America, Live AID, the Concert for Bangladesh, and so > on. The American (and world) public has witnessed one feel-good > event (and the ensuing scandals) after another. Each one manages to > assuage our guilt about the world's problems, at least a little. > Now these folks think that any sort of participation in these > events, or even their good thoughts about world poverty and > starvation, actually help. Now they can sleep at night. It doesn't > matter that nothing has really changed. > > This is how I view the cute, little One Laptop per Child (OLPC) > XO-1 computer, technology designed for the impoverished children of > Africa and Alabama. This machine, which is the brainchild of > onetime MIT media lab honcho Nick Negroponte, will save the world. > His vision is to supply every child with what amounts to an > advertising delivery mechanism. Hence the boys at Google are big > investors. > > Before you cheer for the good guys, ponder a few of these facts > taken from a world hunger Web site. In the Asian, African, and > Latin American countries, well over 500 million people are living > in what the World Bank has called "absolute poverty." Every year, > 15 million children die of hunger. For the price of one missile, a > school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for five > years. Throughout the decade, more than 100 million children will > die from illness and starvation. The World Health Organization > estimates that one-third of the world is well fed, one-third is > underfed, and one-third is starving. Since you've entered this > site, at least 200 people have died of starvation. One in 12 people > worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the > age of 5. Nearly one in four people, or 1.3 billion -- a majority > of humanity -- live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 > billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of > countries with 45 percent of the world's people. Let's include > Negroponte and the Google billionaires. > > So what to do? Let's give these kids these little green computers. > That will do it! That will solve the poverty problem and everything > else, for that matter. Does anyone but me see this as an insulting > "let them eat cake" sort of message to the world's poor? > > "Sir, our village has no water!" "Jenkins, get these people some > glassware!" > > But, wait. Think of how cool it would be! Think of how many > families will get to experience the friendly spam-ridden > Information Super Ad-way laced with Nigerian scams, hoaxes, porn, > blogs, wikis, spam, urban folklore, misinformation, sites selling > junk from China, bomb-making instructions, jihad initiatives, > communist propaganda, Nazi propaganda, exhortations, movie clips of > cats playing the piano, advertising, advertising, and more > advertising. Do you now feel better about the world's problems, > knowing that some poor tribesman's child has a laptop? What African > kid doesn't want access to Slashdot? > > Of course, it might be a problem if there is no classroom and he > can't read. The literacy rate in Niger is 13 percent, for example. > Hey, give them a computer! And even if someone can read, how many > Web sites and wikis are written in SiSwati or isiZulu? Feh. These > are just details to ignore. > > Every time I bring up this complaint to my Silicon Valley pals -- > usually as we race down I-280 in their newest Mercedes-Benz S Class > sedan while listening to their downloaded music from their iPod to > the car's custom stereo -- I get flak. They tell me, "It's a start. > Computers will save the world from poverty. You are just jealous > you didn't think of the idea." > > Yeah, that's it. I'm jealous. > > Apparently, saying anything negative about the OLPC XO-1 computer > amounts to heresy in this community. You may as well promote NAMBLA > or the KKK. People don't want to consider the possibility that > their well-meaning thoughts are a joke and that a $200 truckload of > rice would be of more use than Wi-Fi in the middle of nowhere. > There seems to be a notion that the poor in Africa or East Asia are > just like the kids in East Palo Alto. Once they get a laptop, there > will be no digital divide, will there? People can say, "I did my > part!" > > So on it goes, with people falling all over themselves, saying how > cool the little laptop is and how it fundamentally changes the way > laptops work and what computing is all about. It's waterproof! So, > we read long articles about the thing. We see an incredible deer-in- > the-headlights Leslie Stahl puff piece about the device on 60 > Minutes. No one says it's a crock. Instead, only the minutiae of > implementation and whether Intel should be allowed to make a > similar machine are questioned. During the show, Stahl makes the > idiotic claim that this is the first laptop in history on which you > can read the screen in broad daylight. So much for fact checking. > Then there is a tremendous push to get the public to take part in > the "Give One, Get One" promotion. "I want one!" says a cohort of > mine in a podcast. Apparently, he is going to toss his Mac > PowerBook and use this. Who is he kidding? > > I was amused at the one critique thrown into the 60 Minutes mix for > balance. Negroponte was asked about the devices being stolen from > the children. He assuaged the audience by saying that the machine > will stop working in a month or so if stolen. Oh, okay. That was > good enough for 60 Minutes. I'm thinking, "But it was still stolen!" > > Some readers will just perceive these complaints of mine as coming > from a grumpy old man who doesn't like anything. Fine. Stay > optimistic. Buy ten. All I can tell you is that, personally, I have > never seen such a cavalier and pompous assuredness in my life. As > if this whole OLPC scheme is anything other than a naïve fiasco > waiting to unfold. I'll donate my money to hunger relief, thank you. > > -- > Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to > do what we ought. -- Pope John Paul II > > --[Manny Amador]------------------------------------- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Alternative Information and Opinion at http://www.phnix.net > Advocacy blog: http://mamador.wordpress.com > Personal website: http://mannyamador.multiply.com > --[Pro-Life Philippines]-------------------[http:// > www.prolife.org.ph]--_________________________________________________ > Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List > [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) > Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists > Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph -- Garibaldi V. Melecio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
