Indecisive musings about technology

While reading the Internet diffusion section of the third chapter of The Information Revolution and World Politics, I couldn't help but think about a commercial I saw about three years ago where TV Show Heroes' Masi Oka promotes the One Laptop Per Child Foundation. This organization seeks “to empower the world's poorest children through education”. To that end, they've created computers specifically designed for children, and for the tough conditions many of them live in. They work under five principles, one of which is that the children should have connection to the Internet.

At the time, the advertisement seemed ridiculous to me. I thought: “Seriously? Is a laptop what the poorest children need?”. But right now, I'm not sure that reaction was completely fair. Many of the points made by Hanson do confirm that first impression. Hanson describes how futile these types of efforts can be when power supply is “insufficient and unreliable”, when specialists and technical support are not easily available, and when language represents an obstacle for disseminated use. Furthermore, in the chapter Information Revolution, Global Economy, and Wealth, the author describes different projects to promote and diffuse Internet and computer use that have failed despite being well-thought out. Such was the case of Gyandoot.

However, I can understand the other side. In another video, the company's founder explains the importance of achieving their goal. “Why would a kid in the developing world need a laptop of all things”, he says and lists the different problems that they might go through, such lack of clean water. “Good grief, why should they?” His answer: “take the word laptop and substitute it with education, and nobody would say that”.

I can see where he's coming from. If each child had a computer, the world of knowledge and access to resources that they would obtain is invaluable. I guess it could eventually help them to develop their own projects, and so decrease dependency on foreign entities to solve their communities' problems. However, for that to happen, the kids do actually need a system that supports and enables that type of education.

It's a complicated matter. As Hanson points out, countries that lag in technology are also at a disadvantage, so I do think that getting that technology there would do some good, and it's a beautiful initiative. But it is definitely not a panacea for the world's problems.