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$100 Laptops!!!!!

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by spidershrek

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Hi everyone. I was browsing online this mourning and came across an article that caught my attention.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/16/technology/laptop_fortune/

It talks about how Nick Negroponte founder of Media LaB at MIT, its creating $100 laptops so that families in countries with more econimic problems can give something to there children.
The idea here is to bring everyone up to speed in the technology field and I believe that what he is trying to do is admirable. In fact it seems beneficial for everyone in general. It would be nice for the goverment to work a program that will allow grammar students to obtain one once the kid starts school.

What do you think

27 replies

by smorty71

I think it is great to make technology affordable; however, only after basic needs are meet.

I read an article about one of Negroponte's previous efforts to distribute laptops to poor nations and it turned out that most families used the laptops for light because it was the brightest light source they had.

They also were hesitant to use them because they feared they would break them and be required to pay for them (the laptops cost more than a year's salary).

Seems like he's missing the point if he thinks laptops alone are going to somehow empower these poor nations. I think they need a solid insfrastructure first: clean water, electricity, stable food sources, etc.

Just my thoughts.

by jdmercha

I agree but maybe the laptops will help provide them with the knowledge they need to effectively provide those basic needs.

by smorty71

You really think that it is the lack of a laptop that has prevented them from getting clean water? That seems to be a real stretch.

by jck

Nothing a starving person in Africa, Asia or Central/South America needs more than a laptop to get them on the Internet and up to speed on soccer scores.

And for $100, I wonder how dependable they are...especially in Africa where the temp is hot all the time.

It is an admirable move, but I'd think food, clothing and shelter would be a priority...then, put computers in the schools/libraries where they don't get damaged and are kept well and are around longer for children to use.

by dr dij

be real low power chips, per the article, and rubberized so reasonably water proof. And there are vast areas where they are NOT starving. they are at subsistence level but have enuf to eat mostly.

I'm sure the use would be aimed at 1) education, teaching them language and basic skills
2) appropriate tech level info - farming extension, life skills, low tech improvements such as water system info so they could do these themselves,
3) health info appropriate to them

by smorty71

Here is a link to the story I mentioned in my previous post:

http://news.zdnet.com/2300-9588_22-5884532-13.html

Here is the part that seems misguided to me:
"The villages where these schools were located had no sewer, no water, no telephones, not even roads. The average income was $47 per year. To recharge the notebooks, they brought in generators. A WiFi network with a satellite uplink to the Internet was installed and they told kids to take computers home to play with them. The morning after the first night that the kids brought the laptops home, it became clear not one of the notebooks had been opened. The parents were apparently worried the notebooks would get broken and they'd be held accountable for the breakage. On the next night, after the parents had been reassured that the notebooks could not be broken (at least not easily) and that the children wouldn't be held responsible even if something did break, the parents loved them. Not because of what the computer was capable of, but because the computers were the brightest light sources in the Cambodian villagers' one-room houses."

They are willing to spend the money for Wifi and generators and laptops; however, these people have no water or sewer. Shouldn't those things be priorities over laptops?

by m_a_r_k

I kinda agree with you Smorty. Investing in a developing nation's infrastructure helps lift the entire society. Nowadays technology is part of that infrastructure. But this is similar to the relationship between autos and roads. Why provide autos if there aren't any roads? I can just imagine people in places like The Sudan sitting in their grass huts surfing the Internet while their neighbors and family members are dying of disease and starvation.

by dr dij

herders in sub-sahara now use cell phones to tell each other when they find good grazing.

$ for govt projects in developing countries generally turns into graft and waste.

we need to help orgs that go right to the people

by montgomery gator

$100 sounds like a steep price to pay for a lightbulb. Instead, get them a $1 lightbulb and teach them how to read and do math, if they don't know how already.

by generalist

You would really have to consider this to be a lightbulb with its own power source that doesn't use expensive fossil fuels. Plus it can also serve as a teacher any time, any place, IF the right software exists.

If you think of it that way, you're getting a lot of bang for your buck.

by dr dij

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/2100-10877_11-5884683.html?tag=search

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/2008-10878_11-5684006.html?tag=search

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/2100-10877_11-5701443.html?tag=search

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/2100-10877_11-5928985.html?tag=search

https://www.techrepublic.com.com/2100-10877_11-5924640.html?tag=search

It does seem a bit silly for the kids to be carrying around $100 devices when they can drop them, leave them on the bus, or the school bully takes $2 of lunch money.

most will have computers at home and in classroom already in US, so may be only for other countries.

a few years ago when computer prices were higher, my 9 year old nephew Andy was saving up to by a laptop for $800. He had $400. I discussed this with him, letting him know that desktops were more powerful and cheaper.

Did I envision him doing design work in a starbucks? No. He already had enuf for a desktop and I think that's what he ended up getting.

It will be a while before extra design and manufacturing complications (dual or triple voltages on 1 mb is harder to design) and use complications (heat destroys laptops, I have an old one that works fine -- if I run my presentation with it sitting on top of a cooler with ice in it, or it will hard freeze in 20 minutes)

Most americans would not want one of these PCs, very basic and no HD. I'm sure they'll help their intended audience tho

by montgomery gator

Like the idea of an affordable laptop for those who can't afford one more expensive. However, do not like the idea of having the government buy one for people. If someone can't afford one, they should not expect the government to buy one. We have too much of an entitlement mentality already, with people expecting the government to pay for their need through welfare instead of working for it themselves.

Yes, manufacture and market these $100 laptops if there is a demand and it can be done at a profit to make it worthwhile, but don't expect the government to buy it for people.

by montgomery gator

If the governments of developing countries pay for laptops and give other "entitlements" to people, then the people would less likely take the steps to improve their situations themselves. The programs that work best in the third world are those that teach people how to start their own businesses, improve their farming techniques, and set up markets for their products, so they can improve their lives themselves, become entrepreneurs with a stake in society and the economy instead of being on the dole.

by old guy

I agree that we already have too much entitlement already. We created the "you owe me because I'm poor" when we created welfare. It may sound harse but we don't owe them anything other than basic needs and to teach them how to work for what they want. I've been to the villages in Africa and most of them in the villages don't know they're poor until they go into the city and see the Western greed through TV. Yes, their government needs to help provide water, sewage control, and food first.

Also, in the end, it would be the US who pays for the stuff in a lot of the third world countries.

by dr dij

we're just nice enuf to give them stuff anyway and help improve their lives thru aid and aid orgs
and trade

by montgomery gator

The Romans were able to provide the city of Rome, with a population of over 1,000,000 people, with clean water and sewage systems 2000 years ago, and they did not have laptop computers. They were able to use abacuses and counting on their fingers, along with simple surveying equipment, to engineer the aqueducts.

Agree with sMoRTy71, help them build up the infrastructure where they can take care of themselves, and then they will be able to learn more advanced technology and build the infrastructure for that. Look at how Japan was able to transform itself from a medieval feudal society to a modern world power in the 50 years from 1850 to 1900, and are still one of the most advanced nations on the planet. Othe societies and nations that are now considered "backward" can do the same, but they need to do it in the right order, one step at at time.

by m_a_r_k

I'm a staunch opponent of long-term welfare programs. I believe it's better to teach people how to help themselves rather than teaching how to hold their hand out for freebies.

by dc guy

A big part of the missing infrastructure in these places is the EDUCATIONAL infrastructure. Without that the population is never going to reach critical mass so that they can fulfil the needs of their own people. Who's going to build water treatment plants in a country where most people can't read and many of the ones who can don't understand the concept of bacteria?

They will always be dependent on foreign help.

If laptops can be used to give children a basic education in places where teachers and schools are rare, unaffordable, mediocre--or today's unique problem, thinly disguised terrorist training camps financed by Al Qaeda--they can help jumpstart the process.

Children gather around their village's one TV set in remote corners of the world and watch Big Bird and Cookie Monster teach them the letters of their language's alphabet. A laptop with some cheap educational software might be able to do more.

by jerry~beans&bytes

You know why they use cell phone in the Sahara (or Russia, or whatever), instead of landlines? It's the same reason why they can get laptops to these kids before they can get water/sewage etc.

They can make up these systems off-site, and run them without any local infrastructure, aside from occasional fuel drops for the generators.

You want to get them some water (and you've gotta' have the water before you can build a sewer system)? You have to go to each village, find them a reliable water source (often a deal-breaker in itself), then custom-build, on-site, systems for catching, storing (usually), treating and transporting something that is a he** of a lot heavier than a laptop.

Hey, in theory, get them the basics before they get the luxuries. In practice, maybe educating all these kids will give them a chance to figure out a way to get the other stuff themselves.

by jck

that's what you'd hope...

if they're laptops, they at least have to have power sometime.

by dr dij

like on those emergency radios and lights; you crank it for 5 min, powers it for an hour. This was part of the original design.

by generalist

If these are properly designed in terms of hardware and software, they could provide children of 3rd world countries with the knowledge tools they would need to create their own infrastructure basics like clean water, sanitation, shelter and the like.

Education needs to come first. Infrastructure technology comes later.

It would be even better if the software provided low tech solutions that could be implemented without having to have megabucks in capital.

For example, instead of putting in sewer systems, use composting toilets that create a product that could be used on certain types of crops. Properly designed and sited, these could solve a lot of sanitation problems for a fraction of the cost of a sewer system.

For that matter, teach the children about 'germ theory' and how simple actions like boiling water can go a long way to improving health.

by smorty71

So you want the children to use the laptops to learn how to build their infrastructure? Really? What do they do in the mean time.

I'm all for the "teach a man to fish" approach; however, these laptops don't solve any immediate needs.

by swgoldwire2546

I think that is a totally tubular idea on those $100 laptops. With these laptops people in developing countries can be really self-sufficient and thus improve their lives and tap into the economy.

-swg :)

The post-script: to Mark, I am not crazy about welfare either--I believe in self sufficiency. But there is nothing wrong with help and support, as long as these do not make dependency!

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