The case against OLPC?

[JoeHill]

Lennart Sorensen wrote: 

> On Fri, Dec 07, 2007 at 11:05:37AM -0500, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> > I usually think John Dvorak is a headline-grabbing crank, but this
> > latest column rang true with sentiments that simply won't leave my head.
> > 
> > Isn't the whole idea of "let's give the developing world little
> > computers" a kind of rich-person's feel-good thinking, when so much of
> > the world doesn't even have enough to eat?
> > 
> > Is the OLPC going to fix literacy rates without teachers or books?
> > 
> > IMO Dvorak goes too far in calling the OLPC little more than an
> > ad-delivery device, and the project's very existence is driving a whole
> > new genre of small, cheap and mostly Linux-based computers. But his core
> > point -- about the OLPC being a kind of cultural imperialism, offering
> > computers to societies that need food, books, clean water, jobs and
> > safety -- is hard to shake.
> > 
> > Perhaps the OLPC isn't really designed for the poorest countries, and
> > should be concentrated in places -- such as Brazil and Malaysia -- where
> > basic needs are (generally) met and computer literacy is a _next_ step.
> > But that's not how the program is being promoted.
> > 
> > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2227850,00.asp
> > 
> > What do you think?  
> 
> I think John Dvorak is in idiot and no longer read anything he writes,
> nor anything in the magazines he writes for.
> 
> As for the OLPC, I am not sure.  I have even heard opinions that food
> aid is a bad idea because it in some cases (supposedly many) is just
> spent buying weapons rather than feeding the intended people, and that
> not giving the food aid would make those weapons not get bought and
> actually let them stop dealing with war and start dealing with feedin
> themselves again.  Having not been to any of these places I have no idea
> if that is true or not.  The OLPC seems less likely to be convertible
> into weapons than food does, so perhaps it is actually a better thing to
> give people.

You've raised a very interesting point, at least for me: there's no shortage of
opinions on food aid and the like, no one ever wants to bring up the fact we're
sending over boatloads of weapons. Yes, I said 'we' because Canada is in fact
complicit in this trade.

This whole debate is another example of how those who try to good work are held
to a much higher standard than those who do evil. 

-- 
JoeHill
++++++++++++++++++++
 Bender: Oh... your... God.
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