Negroponte's Talk at Emerging Technology Conference 195
xacting writes "The video of Nicholas Negroponte's talk about MIT's One Laptop per Child (OLPC) research initiative was just posted to MIT World. In it, he discusses the challenges of tripling the world's laptop production, dealing with China's policies towards free speech and the problems of grey markets." From the article: "The key to churning out these cheap educational devices is volume -- and the more countries that join the bandwagon, the sleeker and less expensive the computers are likely to be. Negroponte casts a wary eye on the potential grey market appeal of the machines, and is determined to make them so distinctive as a government-distributed, educational tool that taking one would 'be like stealing a post office truck.' Negroponte concludes, 'Changing education on the planet is a monumental challenge,' taking decades. But OLPC will 'seed the change,' and help 'invent the future.'"
Re:I want one, no, TWO! (Score:3, Interesting)
Why make them unattractive? (Score:4, Interesting)
Why put any artificial barrier at all in front of your product? If your goal is to make them ubiquitous, then let nothing get in the way.
He recognizes capitalism's inexorable hand, but refuses to accept it. He'd be much better off working with it. Accept that there is going to be a market for the things, and sell into the market. Someone's going to.
For instance, he could make a bare-bones, fully-functional version of the product available to schools, but sell a more elaborate model to consumers, a similar but higher priced one to business, and a milspec one to the US DOD.
By working with capitalists, instead of fighting them, the project would stand a much better chance of actually succeeding.
Just a thought.. (Score:4, Interesting)
What to do? Use this "machine" for an undefined incomprehensible goal, I mean even the makers don't really know exactly how this laptop thingamagig will actually be beneficial in REAL terms (ignore the use of buzzwords such as explore, interact and create, they don't mean anything). OR, they could flog it in the closest market for the highest they can, giving them REAL benefits, such as cash, to buy that tin pot they'll use to boil water, or whatever it is they need.
The first thing they need to realize is the importance of education. The second thing will be for them to actually do something about it. The third and last component will be to give them the tools they need to achieve their educational goals.
Both my grandfathers were refugees from the Armenian Genocide and arrived in France/Syria with nothing at all with them, they were orphans 5/7 years old and couldn't read or write. One of them went to a French school, got the education he needed. The other one didn't have the same privilege, he taught himself everything. Guess which one actually was the more educated person at the end? Yep, the one who taught himself.
The point? Education is not only about the tools you have at your disposal, it's also the willingness and dedication to learn.
Re:Yeah ok bud... (Score:5, Interesting)
As for AIDs... A large portion of the problem with AID/HIV in africa is education. People don't know what to do to protect themselves from it, how they can get it, etc. With an internet connection they can look all that up.
This is the 'teach a man to fish' principle: If they are starving today, they need a fish. If they are likely to be starving soon, they need fishing lessons. A cheap internet connected laptop would allow them to look up the best way to fish. Or whatever else they need.
(Also: cheap laptops mean cheap teaching of basic computer skills. Which means the students are more employable, in more jobs, with less on-the-job training. Which is better for the economies of the countries.)
These can help. Don't doubt it. Don't assume Africa is in the stone age.
Books (Score:3, Interesting)
The modern world throws away thousands, if not millions of books ever year. Some of them are reference materials, spanning every education level. If the thrid world was given these books instead of a connection to the internet, I think it'd be vastly more useable, longer lasting, and cheaper.
This removes the need for electricity, connectivity, and familiarity with technology. Books are what the entire world has used for much much longer than the internet as a source of knowledge. it's a shame to skip this.
Re:I want one, no, TWO! (Score:1, Interesting)
This idea's been discussed quite a bit. There are some issues with anti-dumping laws in the trade agreements, but if they can work that out it might happen. I hope so, I want one just cause it's cool!
Various comments have asked why the imposed limit....I think they're worried that if there's a resale market for the laptops, 3rd-world kids for whom $100 is several months wages are liable to just sell the things instead of using them. Or lose them to theft. IMO it's a hopeless strategy...we can't stop trade in heroin or machine guns, and we won't stop people from trading these either.
Re:Methinks you're lazy (Score:3, Interesting)
These are NOT thin clients, they are fully stand-alone devices. The mesh part only comes into play for communications, not for operations. There is no central server, no must-be-in-range-to-work, etc.
Think about it, the goal is these kids can sit with these after dinner and be the first first in their family able to read a story, in their local language, to their siblings before bed, to do their homework, to learn about the world beyond their village. Do you really think that a thin client that only works within 100 meters of the district school is something folks who actually do put time & energy into these ideas would go for?
C'mon, for the time it took you to post you could've answered your (wrong) guess for yourself.
Re:Not so sure ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Frankly I think these MIT guys are idiots. Perhaps kids in the developing world need 19th and early 20th century technology- clean water, decent roads, adequate food and nutrition, basic literacy, electricity, basic medical care- before we start worrying about the goddamn laptops. But hey, what do I know, these are MIT engineers and I only spent three months in rural Madagascar. While I was there I saw remote mountain villages that were barely out of the Stone Age and I can't imagine how a 100$ laptop could help these people... unless they sold the damn thing and bought some rice and cows. Maybe these guys ought to spend some serious time in the developing world and seeing what the problems are before they start touting the solution. If anything, this 100-dollar laptop does more harm than good, since it distracts from the real problems facing the developing world (seriously, when is the last time you read a headline that said "millions dying in Africa due to laptop shortage"?). Sure, there are probably some things you could do with a laptop in Africa. But the same 100$ a kid, spent on basic development of infrastructure, agriculture, education and health care would do vastly more.
books are very efficient (Score:3, Interesting)
The Internet by contrast is superior at distributing actual applications, like software, or fast-changing information (like news, or the latest tech innovation, or Fedora Core X, or odd bits of information that are only of rare use. (For example, in your example, the reason you go to Google to find out how to purify water is that in your Western life you are very unlikely to need to do it. But you don't go to Google to learn the rules for driving a car, or how to add, because that's a ubiquitous skill that you learned long before you learned about Google. In a country where purifying water is a top and general priority, people are going to learn about it from their parents and neighbors, not Google.)
None of these seem especially relevant to folks in poor countries. What they really need is access to basic information that is already well understood (how to dig a safe well, how to prevent AIDS transmission, reliable accounting and credit practises, basic nutrition). These things are actually very well conveyed by book.
The one exception I can see is that the Internet is also good for two-way communication between people well-seperated, and places like Africa are often short of experts of one stripe or another. I can see how it might do some good if you could have interactive, or semi-interactive software, that might let a back-and-forth go on to teach people stuff better. Say, an adaptive teaching program that could teach a range of students, from the barely getting started to the most sophisticated. A book tends to be a one-size-fits-all solution, which does not serve the spectrum of students in the real world. That's why you need a teacher, too, to customize the learning. But software could, in part, replace the teacher at lower cost. Or serve as some kind of faux triage nurse that could ask some questions about your symptoms and find out whether you should just rest up and drink more fluids -- or whether you really should make that 2 day trip to the clinic. These things would be good.
Only REFUGEES are starving! (Score:3, Interesting)
Not food, definitely not. When the current president of Brazil was elected, one of his campaign themes was the so-called "zero hunger" program, for distributing food to the allegedly starving poor people of Brazil. Much to his embarrassment, after he came to power, the Brazilian federal agency in charge of statistics [ibge.gov.br] published the results of a study showing that among the poorest people in Brazil obesity is a much worse problem than hunger. The managers for that agency were severely reprimanded and ordered to not publish anything without checking with the president's office first.
About teachers, you may have a point. Lack of proper education is certainly one of the main cause of poverty in poor countries, after high taxes and excessive government spending. But computers are one very important education aid that's missing in poor countries' schools. In these days, someone who's not able to use a computer is untrained for almost any decent job anywhere in the world.
Re:And if Every Geek (Score:3, Interesting)
"I wrote to them asking where I could send $100 to sponsor the creation of the laptop.. I was automailed a response."
While you're waiting, why not consider supporting other IT-related work that's changing lives in the developing world? Take a look at the GeekCorps [geekcorps.org], a volunteer sending agency that specialises in short-term volunteer work in the developing world. I find their Mali Project [geekcorps.org], where they're building a nationwide wireless network for peanuts, especially interesting. I'm on their mailing list, and if I weren't already doing the same kind of work in another part of the developing world, I'd be working for them.
Or you could do what I'm doing and spend a couple of years working as a VSO volunteer. VSO Canada [vsocanada.org] recruits across North America, and VSO international [vso.org.uk] recruits throughout the EU. If you're tied down by other commitments and don't have a couple of years to devote to development, you could think about a short-term stint with BESO [vso.org.uk], which provides tactical assistance with business and technology skills development.
Young Canadians with nominal IT experience can give a hand too, through the NetCorps [netcorps-cyberjeunes.org] programme, operated by the government of Canada through VSO Canada and CUSO [cuso.org]. I've worked with a few of them, and they all love what they're doing.
I can say from experience that this kind of work does save lives, and it's incredibly gratifying. In fact, I like the work so much I've extended my contract for an extra two years, and I've decided on a career in international development.
politics in technology--gotta love it (Score:2, Interesting)
Sounds like: "and the more countries that join the bandwagon, democracy will provide us a better/sleeker world".
or even...
"and the more countries that join the bandwagon, energy will be cheaper for all".
Same paradigm, obivously hasn't worked to date. Move along Nicholas...
Though last MITEF I attended, he was enteraining with his cynicism on the current politicians.