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Tim Berners-Lee Announces Creation of New Foundation to Bring the Web to All People

tjic 18y ago
I love how folks create non-profits and big elaborate plans to "push along" something that is already historically inevitable. The "One Laptop Per Child" is an example of this: people are getting wealthier (especially in the third world - the last decade had the biggest movement out of poverty in the history of mankind), and computers are getting cheaper and cheaper, so it is a matter of WHEN not of IF everyone on the planet will have a computer. ...and then the OLPC gets out in front of this, as if they're needed, or something. Web access is the same: everyone on the planet WILL have web access, thanks to Moore's Law and free markets. ...and now TBL is getting out in front of inevitability to "make it happen". Sigh.
- blurry 18y ago
  Just like Abraham Lincoln! Don't you hate it how he got into that whole American Civil War when slavery was going to be abolished anyway? I mean, it was historically inevitable, so what was the point. Ugh.
  - tjic 18y ago
    Actually, even though you're being sarcastic, you make an excellent point. The British Empire had just abolished slavery, Brazil had peacefully abolished slavery - the changing economics were lowering the benefit of owning slaves, and increasing the cost. If it hadn't been for the Dred Scott decision, the costs of owning slaves (because running away would be quite attractive) would have been even higher. If Lincoln was such a genius, why is it that the US is the only country that had a civil war over the issue, and lost over 600,000 men, with another 400,000 or so wounded and disabled ... out of a population of 31 million (that's over 3% of the entire nation either dead or wounded). Between the riots in Northern cities, the economic decimation of the South, the suspension of the free press, the jailing of political opponents, the drafts and the deaths ... yes, maybe Lincoln should have found a way to kick the issue down the road 10 or 15 years.
    - blurry 18y ago
      Completely agree with you, tjic, war is never the answer. I was simply making a point in response to the previous post and this was the first example that popped in my mind.
- jsmcgd 18y ago
  I don't share in your cynicism or in your application of the phrase 'historically inevitable'. There are many technologies that were invented along time ago and that were historically inevitable that still haven't reached many parts of the world, for example electricity and clean water. Poverty may have been reduced substantially but it still has a long way to go and can benefit hugely from organizations like the OLPC and their ilk.
  - netcan 18y ago
    The question that then arises is: Is OLPC likely to reach the widely available $100 laptop goal substantially sooner then the commercial market? At the least, they need history unfolding to take them 90% of the way. But that 10% may be substantial.

tjic 18y ago

I love how folks create non-profits and big elaborate plans to "push along" something that is already historically inevitable. The "One Laptop Per Child" is an example of this: people are getting wealthier (especially in the third world - the last decade had the biggest movement out of poverty in the history of mankind), and computers are getting cheaper and cheaper, so it is a matter of WHEN not of IF everyone on the planet will have a computer. ...and then the OLPC gets out in front of this, as if they're needed, or something. Web access is the same: everyone on the planet WILL have web access, thanks to Moore's Law and free markets. ...and now TBL is getting out in front of inevitability to "make it happen". Sigh.

blurry 18y ago
Just like Abraham Lincoln! Don't you hate it how he got into that whole American Civil War when slavery was going to be abolished anyway? I mean, it was historically inevitable, so what was the point. Ugh.
- tjic 18y ago
  Actually, even though you're being sarcastic, you make an excellent point. The British Empire had just abolished slavery, Brazil had peacefully abolished slavery - the changing economics were lowering the benefit of owning slaves, and increasing the cost. If it hadn't been for the Dred Scott decision, the costs of owning slaves (because running away would be quite attractive) would have been even higher. If Lincoln was such a genius, why is it that the US is the only country that had a civil war over the issue, and lost over 600,000 men, with another 400,000 or so wounded and disabled ... out of a population of 31 million (that's over 3% of the entire nation either dead or wounded). Between the riots in Northern cities, the economic decimation of the South, the suspension of the free press, the jailing of political opponents, the drafts and the deaths ... yes, maybe Lincoln should have found a way to kick the issue down the road 10 or 15 years.
  - blurry 18y ago
    Completely agree with you, tjic, war is never the answer. I was simply making a point in response to the previous post and this was the first example that popped in my mind.
jsmcgd 18y ago
I don't share in your cynicism or in your application of the phrase 'historically inevitable'. There are many technologies that were invented along time ago and that were historically inevitable that still haven't reached many parts of the world, for example electricity and clean water. Poverty may have been reduced substantially but it still has a long way to go and can benefit hugely from organizations like the OLPC and their ilk.
- netcan 18y ago
  The question that then arises is: Is OLPC likely to reach the widely available $100 laptop goal substantially sooner then the commercial market? At the least, they need history unfolding to take them 90% of the way. But that 10% may be substantial.