The $100 Laptop
22nd of December, 2007
If you haven’t heard, for a long time now there’s been a big fuss about the $100 Laptop which is now finally shipping. It’s also known as the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. The basic idea is that Westerners buy two of these computers, they get one and the other one is given to a child in a third world, poverty stricken countries.
I just don’t get it.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that children in Uganda are not longing for a cheap, durable laptop computer. I would guess that they’re more concerned with clean water, food and clothing. I would guess that they don’t know what a computer is and if they were shown, would not see the it’s value to them.
I’m not an expert but the way I see it, computers need to come after the establishment of other systems, like, say, electricity. Are the laptop owners even going to be able to charge them?
One laptop per child is overkill even in developed countries. No pre-teen child needs their own computer, it seems even more ridiculous that anyone would want to give a laptop to every child in areas where they don’t desire or need them.
i would agree with your logic if it meant that there was a choice between giving food, water, and shelter OR technology. i don’t think the two choices are mutually exclusive and that bringing technology to the third world is as lofty a goal as bringing food and water. the only difference is that it is a longterm project without much in the way of shortterm results, which by definition means people think it is useless.
i hate cliches, but the old saying “teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” is what OLPC is all about. if you replace man with child and fish with compete on a level playing field with the developed world, you get something that’s pretty close to the heart of the OLPC project.
Made by jon who has a website — http://www.beingjongraves.com
I’ve thought exactly the same thing, I just haven’t wanted to say it because I figured sooner or later someone would come along and start a huge “you had the poor kids” rant that would cause more of a headache than it was ever worth…
It reminds me of a West Wing episode we were watching the other night. This African president comes over to visit with the major drug companies in the US to negotiate for lower prices on AIDS medication. Eventually, after hours of arguing, one of the drug executives points out that it would never work, even if they were to make as much medication as needed totally free. The medication has to be taken on an exact schedule, 2 pills every 8 hours, 2 pills every 12 hours. There’s silence in the board room before someone asks “So what’s the problem?” One of the brighter White House execs points out “They don’t own wrist watches. They can’t tell what time it is.”
This seems, to me, to be a very similar situation. The goal of the OLPC project, helping advance the education of students in third-world countries, is certainly admirable - but is this really the best way to go about it? They tout the wireless networking capabilities and the easy-to-use interface, but does any of that matter to a child in a dirt hut trying to learn how to read?
How many millions of dollars have been invested in research, development, and production of the OLPC product which could have been donated out-right or used to help provide actual basic infrastructure services to these people? Services that you mentioned - water, power, manufacturing - the things developed nations truly do take for granted.
Like it or not, even in today’s world, computers are still considered a luxury - not a basic life-providing necessity. Are we really solving the right problems?
Made by Chris Meller who has a website — http://incoherentbabble.com
I’ve heard the argument before claiming the OLPC project is a waste of time for people starving to death. This is true, but that’s not who it is for.
There are many countries that do have poor populations that are above the $1 a day line but still, by western standards, poor. These are countries who are dealing with the next round of problems: how do we build an economy? How do we get workers off subsistence agriculture and into industrialised industries? You will see that the countries that intend to make bulk purchases are not Sudan or Yemen, but Brazil and Uruguay (according to wikipedia, Uruguay is in the top 50 of countries ranked by HDI - not that bad).
The OLPC laptop runs off battery, so kids can take it home where there my not have electricity. It has a backlight in the screen, so they can use it at night (its harder to learn to read when you have to stop when it gets dark). Textbooks can be loaded onto it, which are expensive to buy and transport. Most importantly its an open, hackable tool for young minds to play with and be challenged by. In the right hands it could make a huge difference to countries on the middle rungs of the development ladder.
Made by Matt