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Simputer Runs Into Problems
dejaffa writes "It seems that an Indian Linux-based "computer for the poor" is having financial issues. This has implications for the world digital divide. The story is here (MSNBC, I know, I know). There were originally great hopes for it, as seen here, but money is proving to be the stumbling block."
...damn
Perhaps the gov't should just fine Worldcom ? billion dollars (that they misreported), and fund a free computer program for the poor...
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Yes, the whole point in the Simputer project was to change that.
When it comes to food, shelter, medicine, or computers, what do you think has the lowest spending priority for a poor person?
Give a poor person food, shelter, and medicine, and you will solve his problems today. Give him a computer and he will be able to afford the food, shelter, and medicine he needs in the future.
And, as long as computers are a privilege of the upper classes, the acute social distortions found in all Third World countries will continue to exist.
Aren't you confusing computers with opportunity? Personally I don't buy the ``social inequity is the root of all evil'' and ``the class system is inherently bad'' arguments, but let's set that aside for a minute. Giving a random person off the street a computer does not, in any way, enable him to improve his station in life. In order to do that, he's going to have to go out and get an education (if he lacks one) and a good job. Having a computer won't help him with those things.
In 1998 cheap cell phones became available from privatized companies; today any day laborer in Brazil has a cell phone. A perfect example of technology increasing the productivity of low-skill workers in the Third World.
You left out the part about how having a cell phone increases the productivity of a low-skill worker. If you're a salesman or something, and your job is based on talking to people on the phone, then having a cell phone might make you more productive. But if you work in a field or a factory or something, having a cell phone won't improve your productivity in any measurable way.
Your argument is really specious.