[Edu-sig] OLPC G1G1 sales start today

[Paul D. Fernhout]

Laura-

Wow. Gapminder's a great site. Thanks for the link and the perspective.

That TED 2007 presentation you mention is an amazing use of dynamic computer
graphics to make points about social and economic change. I wonder what that
was originally implemented in? Be interesting if it was Python?

It's in part kind of like an interactive version of the _Material World: A
Global Family Portrait_ book, see:
  http://www.amazon.com/Material-World-Global-Family-Portrait/dp/0871564300
That book, more than anything, is what I base my conceptions on; perhaps
they are incorrect?  One review writes: "Menzel's idea was brilliant -- to
identify a statistically average family in every corner of the world, and
photograph them and all of their belongings, as well as capture aspects of
their daily life on film."

But I'd be happy to agree there is a law of diminishing returns in material
wealth. In fact, perhaps even negative returns once you have so many
possessions they begin to own you and the clutter cramps your space and life.

Still, the gapminder chart here
    http://www.gapminder.org/world/
on income vs. life expectancy still has to have a logarithmic axis for
income. For example, South Africa, one of the highest blue dots in terms of
per-capita income, and Argentina, one if the highest yellow dots, still only
have 1/3 the USA per capita income. Although I'm not fully sure what that
means since living costs for food, housing, and often fuel are lower in,
say, many southern countries. So it may well be that the lifestyles for most
people have reached near parity (ignoring some pricey items perhaps, which
used to include computers), so I appreciate your correction. Still, clearly
there remain a lot of bubbles on that graph which are below $4000 per
capita, and who a conventional $1000+ laptop is a big chunk of income,
especially if it won't last long exposed to non-climate-controlled
conditions. And even the speaker in that talk suggests many nations are
lagging 30-40 years behind where the USA was on multiple indicators.

The fundamental problem remains that if much of the success of the currently
rich (per capita) countries was built to a great extent on the backs of the
poor (per capita) countries, how can the poor countries get out of poverty
by following that plan?  Who will they have left to do their low paying
dirty work? I think OLPC in a way actually addresses this issue, by bringing
hope for a post-scarcity information age of abundance for all. Python and
GNU/Linux and other free and open source efforts give hope towards that end
too -- that we, through information and education and innovation and
creativity and sharing, are building a set of new possibilities that can
transcend the old divides based on managing perceived scarcity of most
things. That we can return to the better part of the old (even
pre-agricultural hunter/gatherer) cultures of abundance and sharing which
free and open source efforts exemplify.

By the way -- 228 hits on Google for "developing world" on the OLPC site:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Flaptop.org%2F+%22developing+world%22
Maybe that says something about attitudes and the project?

That TED 2007 presented used the term "emerging economies". Is that really
much better?

I like the quote, often attributed to Lila Watson, but not quite correctly:
http://northlandposter.com/blog/2006/12/18/lila-watson-if-you-have-come-to-help-me-you-are-wasting-your-time-but-if-you-have-come-because-your-liberation-is-bound-up-with-mine-then-let-us-work-together/
which says: "If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if
you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us
work together."

To the extent the OLPC spirit embodies that, despite its failings, I think
it is worth supporting. And the funny thing about a big free and open source
project like OLPC is that there likely is no one perception one can pin down
as to what the entire project staff (volunteer or paid) believes. It's just
a bunch of people (including a few leaders) bumbling along with a variety of
aspirations (and I mean that in a nice way, the oft cited adage for such
projects being "like herding cats"). Such a model has both its strengths and
its weaknesses. But, even if the hardware doesn't succeed in a big way, the
project may have succeeded in an enormous way by changing people's attitudes
towards what is possible with computers and education. And, as, you suggest,
attitude is very important.

--Paul Fernhout

Laura Creighton wrote:
> Paul: look at 
> http://www.gapminder.org/
> 
> see the videos.  Ted 2007 in particular.
> 
> There is no 'developing world' /developed world split any more.
> 
> Laura who did not have time to readx all you wrote, but
> that caught my eye.  Its not simply condescending to refer to
> them as the developing world -- because they excell in non-monetary
> things, its condescending because they have largely caught up in monetary
> things and you apparantly haven't noticed, like most people.

> In a message of Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:48:33 EST, "Paul D. Fernhout" writes:
>> Paul D. Fernhout wrote:
>> And I
>> really should not be using "developed" / "developing" as they are loaded
>> terms (even though the OLPC project uses them too), since there is a lot 
>> the
>> USA can learn from other countries, including poor ones, some of whom rank
>> higher in overall happiness in various surveys -- here's a different one:
>>  http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/