Several months ago I briefly met with the awesome Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive. He was showing off the OLPC computer (One Laptop Per Child). They were initially promoted as costing $100, but are now about $200 each. The computer is designed to be bought in orders of 100,000 units by developing countries to jump start their educational process. If every kid has a computer that's connected to the internet and each other, and is using open source software they can learn to program, then the kids in these countries can figure out their own solutions. This is the social techie dream. But there are many people who say the OLPC program is bullshit. I just got into another heated debate tonight over OLPC. The argument is that children in developing nations need clean water and food first. Many children barely have proper schools to attend. How are you going to give a kid who lives in a hut a computer? The corruption in many developing nations is incredible, and this would be another waste of precious resources. Why give computers to kids anyway? Give them to the adults. I believe in appropriate technology and trust that the right people will find their ways to computers. I truly believe that there are those of us who love to connect and explore. The OLPC computer just lowers the barrier to having a machine that connects you to the greater web so you can find your own way. Computers are not the answer, but they are a tool. It's a pretty cool computer if you check out the features. It runs on linux, has a video camera built in, an automatic mesh network is created through the antennae, and can be powered by a hand pump. Brewster is especially excited because he's working on Project Gutenberg which is scanning thousands of books that can be read on computers like these. He has a dream.
