My thoughts on all of this are pretty well documented, but I'll just
mention briefly - again - that the cost of the laptops viewed alone may
seem worthwhile to some and not worthwhile to others. However, when
looked at in the context of a national economy, I find the Negroponte
initiative indefensible and have found no one with a suitable defense
for expending that much on something while not extending a
technological, financial or even societal infrastructure. Further, it
assures a dependency on a hardware and support infrastructure which will
be handled by the same governments and entities which could not provide
appropriate infrastructure in the first place.
It's cold, it's hard, it's true. Unfortunately, the iceberg that sank
the Titanic didn't get named. But we all remember the Titanic.
I'd also like to note that 'success', as usual, appears to be used in
many different contexts here. What is success for this initiative? Yes,
it's quite *cool* that there's a neon-colored thing out there with these
abilities - send me one, I'll evaluate it instead of speculate - but I
believe that this laptop will only guarantee that children will continue
to be born naked. It also manages to get a lot of publicity for a
certain person who apparently should just trademark the thing and be
done with it.
The only thing I can see that is substantially worthwhile about the
initiative is that it's promoting discussion, but the discussion itself
seems to be a wavering defense of what promises so much for those with
so little.
Cerveza Libre!
--
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Always looking for contracts!
http://www.knowprose.com/node/9786
New!: http://www.OpenDepth.com
http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran
Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
"Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo
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