www.stupididea.co.thirdworld/wtf?
I remember when I was studying for my English lit degree, a professor (I think it was Dr. Whalen) told us about a character in a Victorian novel - one of those philanthropist matrons - whose particular project was to raise money to send waistcoats to naked little African children. Her thinking was that they’re naked, so of course they need waistcoats. Doesn’t everyone?
Which brings me to the so-called “third-world laptop.” I’m sure you’ve read about it somewhere by now, but in case you haven’t the New York Times today has a big long front page piece about it. The gist of it is that some MIT whiz-kid/rich guy has designed a stripped-down laptop that can be built for around $150. The goal is to distribute it to students in developing countries and spread education through access to information.
I’m posting this so that, five years from now, when everyone looks back and says, “Well, that was a stupid idea,” I can point out that I thought it was a stupid idea a long time ago. Of course, I’m not the only one trashing it. None other than Bill Gates, “Microsoft’s chairman and a leading philanthropist for the third world, has questioned whether the concept is ‘just taking what we do in the rich world’ and assuming that that is something good for the developing world, too.”
Not that Bill Gates is always right, but he has a point. This sort of idea frustrates the hell out of me, because even though the problems with it are so goddamn obvious, the professional do-gooders charge on ahead. Think about it: What’s the first thing a poor family is going to do when their 6-year-old comes walking through the door clutching a shiny new laptop? That’s right, they’re going to sell it.
Or they’ll use it to prop up a corner of the bed once that loony Wi-Fi “mesh” proves to be as useless as it sounds. I mean, shit, I can barely get my laptop to work, and I have a steady power supply, literacy skills, a college education, and cable internet. With all the training sessions these kids are going to need to use the damn laptop, they could be learning algebra.
Of course, proponents will argue that once the children have the laptops and know how to use them, they will teach themselves algebra using the internet. Which, you know, is what everyone does with the internet.
And that’s to say nothing of the pedagogy of the whole thing. Obviously I’m not the most qualified person to riff on that, but in third-world education systems with few teachers, fewer classrooms, and cultural and structural issues like AIDS, violent crime, and rampant corruption, it strikes me as unlikely that giving laptops to children is going to do any good at all. It’s sort of like icing without cake.
Or waistcoats without clothing.
Balazs Kovacs wrote:
You and Bill have a point…
(As you know I am a Master of Peace, and I have no idea where to begin saving the third world… definitely not with laptops… on another note, it’d be nice to get one of those for my sister… she only uses computers to write stuff… she doesn’t even go online too often… would be perfect for her… the only problem is that she’s 27 and lives in the 2nd world… too bad… she’s the person who could use it…)
Posted on 30-Nov-06 at 3:02 pm | Permalink
Bob wrote:
The onion once ran an article about an african tribesman cracking nuts with an IBM external modem…
Anyway, I’d think that a $150 laptop has potential to help the more developed parts of 3rd world countries, especially at the high school or university level of education. I wouldn’t necessarily devote a lot of money and effort to the cause, but it does seem somewhat useful.
I can’t fault the promoters of the laptop idea for trying, but I think a more realistic issue is price. At least right now, they have quite a while to go to get the price down on them.
Posted on 01-Dec-06 at 8:23 am | Permalink
pjk wrote:
Balazs, I totally agree with you. I wonder if there might be a market for these cheap laptops for, I don’t know, disadvantaged inner city kids in America? or me?
Bob, the NYT article mentions that Intel is building a $400 laptop for third-world teachers. this strikes me as more useful. I think, however, the main problem with any third-world laptop plans is internet access. we can’t get Wi-Fi to work in Central Park, what makes us think it’ll work in Kenya? it’s like distrubting xerox machines in villages 200 miles from civilization. you KNOW they’re going to break, and then what are you going to do? better to wait a few more years and let the technology develop so you don’t discredit it by jumping in to early.
Posted on 01-Dec-06 at 8:45 am | Permalink
Jon Hoyt wrote:
I’m going to have to disagree with you Peter. Having taught mathematics for six months in the bush, out in Uganda, I can honestly say that cheap laptops would be an amazing resource.
They are not planning on just distributing these to any kid walking down the road you know, they will be purchased by primary and secondary schools across africa, and used by teachers and students in classes as an educational tool, but more importantly as a vocational tool… In order for these people to improve their quality of life they really need to have vocational options other than just farming. Who knows, if this cheap laptop thing works maybe the current generation of kids in primary schools in Africa will steal the IT tech support jobs away from India in 15-20 years…
Anyways, despite your concerns, I think it is a great idea and will be a great help to many, as long as the resources are managed and not just thrown about willy-nilly…
NOTE: I also believe schools here in America (and anywhere for that matter) will be able to purchase these laptops, so I think its great that their making them… The only real restriction on buying them will be that they have to be bought in large quantities. So who knows, maybe Dell will buy 100,000 and then sell them at or below cost (they can sell them below cost if they load some adverts/spyware on them)…
Posted on 01-Dec-06 at 8:57 am | Permalink
pjk wrote:
“as long as the resources are managed and not just thrown about willy-nilly…”
while your optimism is admirable, the history of top-down aid efforts in Africa works substantially against it.
also: Wi-Fi. won’t work.
Posted on 01-Dec-06 at 9:09 am | Permalink
Jon Hoyt wrote:
what do you mean by wi-fi won’t work? four years ago i wrote a proposal for the school i worked for to deploy wi-fi and get hi-speed satellite internet access, and they just implemented it this last year and its been working great from what i hear… and the mesh wi-fi is built to be a no-configure firmware/software solution, unlike windows xp (which i’m assuming you have on your laptop, and hence the issues you have)… just saying…
Posted on 02-Dec-06 at 10:32 pm | Permalink
pjk wrote:
well hey jon, who knows, you might be right. I hope you are. when I say “wi-fi won’t work” I’m not talking about software but hardware. you really think relaying a signal between laptops in a mesh is going to provide reliable access? in the whole scheme of computer technology Wi-Fi is a pretty new thing, and I’m dubious they have the kinks worked out well enough to make something this ambitious-sounding work. and hey, maybe they do, but I still say that a safe bet is that a combination of tech failures and unanticipated cultural snags (minus the problem-solving abilities of a market-driven system) will bog this project down to the point of uselessness.
Posted on 03-Dec-06 at 9:39 pm | Permalink