gio wrote:But with these computers, people in the global South can read your post, and other opinions like it.

Not if they can't read it. Lots of developing-country achievements in higher education, while remarkable and economically important, don't do a whole hell of a lot for their hundreds of millions of illiterate tenant farmers.

It's an education initiative, when it comes down to it. It's idealistic, sure... but also, remember that the people behind this project are not literacy advocates, land reformists, and cultural educators. They're computer geeks. At least they're trying.

Their concern is commendable. It should manifest itself in other ways, which would be appropriately determined by a more thorough analysis of the challenges faced by the people they want to help. I believe that such an analysis would lead them to advocate for land reform, literacy, and cultural education, even if that's not as sexy and overtly future-oriented as developing cheap computer hardware.

Here's a relevant story: the city of Raipur, capital of India's Chhattisgarh state, has a 30-year-old sewer system underneath it, built with funds from the Asian Development Bank, that's never been used because nobody can afford to connect to it. The civil engineers who built it didn't ask themselves "what kind of systems can improve people's lives here" but instead asked "where can I build the thing I know how to build, regardless of whether it is appropriate or stands a chance of success."

At the same time, the Communist governments in West Bengal and Kerala were pursuing land reform and literacy projects, and making efforts to end caste oppression. As a result both GDP and GDP growth are significantly higher in West Bengal and Kerala -- by a factor of 3 or 4 -- than in Chhattisgarh. That's not to mention the less-tangible benefits of greater gender equality and a louder political voice.

That's idealism, even if it's written on cheap paper instead of an LCD screen. And it works.

That's a good point... you're arguing that a participating nation's subsidy for the project could be better allocated. But by your analogy, the blame for a poor development decision falls on the participating government, not the computer developer.

If you look at the map, though, they're planning to pliot in Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, China, India... i suppose it remains to be seen whether or not the project is effective as it is deployed in these nations, according to the specific needs of those nations, of where and how it is deployed.

Also according to the map, about half of Africa is "currently seeking government support." I'm guessing this is probably a bad idea, though I don't know the specifics of those nations' problems. If the program developers are responsible, maybe they probably shouldn't push for support in these nations.

gio wrote:But with these computers, people in the global South can read your post, and other opinions like it.

On what network?

You all do realize that this project is not being marketed towards the poor people themselves but to their governments as educational tools, right?

Whether the governments sell them or not is a different story, but I'm pretty sure they're thinking of it as like buying books for a public school.

/*edit
quote and link:

On January 30, 2005 Peter Rojas wrote:Apparently [AMD, Google, Motorola, Samsung, and News Corp. are] all getting mixed up in a joint-venture to produce the PC, which will be sold directly to governments only (minimum order is 1 million units, with the Chinese ministry of education is first on the list).

Kindof old, i guess. Maybe that's changed?
link
*/

Along the same lines of idealism brought up earlier, "the governments can buy the schools network connections too" (nobody said that).

Are satellites cheaper than running mass cable these days?

thebookofkevin wrote:Along the same lines of idealism brought up earlier, "the governments can buy the schools network connections too" (nobody said that).

You can't pay for an ISP to a network that does not exist. We might as well suggest that these towns need railroad stations to connect them to the outside world, but not build any trains or track.

The parts of world that would benefit from this endeavor cannot support it. The parts of the world that can support this don't need it.