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I honestly don't understand how a back-room deal that results in a sale like this going to help. Clifford Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil, though it sounds a bit ludd
by rams 17y ago
I honestly don't understand how a back-room deal that results in a sale like this going to help. Clifford Stoll's Silicon Snake Oil, though it sounds a bit luddite is worth a read. There are problems that deserve far more attention like basic hygiene and access to primary education.
- ido 17y agoIn a country like India or Brazil one can (and often does) always argue that funding for whichever initiative can be better spent on giving food to poor children. Micro loans for small businesses? OLPC? English lessons in rural villages? Subsidizing cheap public transport to far flung areas that the quickly aging infrastructure doesn't properly service? How dare you propose such luxuries when children are starving on the streets!! Quick fact: the Indian government can allocate all of their budget to Feeding Poor Children and there would still be plenty of malnourished kids begging on the streets.
- forinti 17y agoAnother quick fact: South America produces three times the food it consumes. And another: Brazil's per capita GDP is nearly 4 times India's. Brazil can feed and educate everybody. The fact that it doesn't (at least the feeding part is already fixed) is more related to bad government than to lack of funds.
- gaius 17y agoAnother vote for Silicon Snake Oil. Stoll makes the point that computers are great except for between the ages of 6 and 16, when they can't replace experiences such as actually going on a field trip.