Slashdot Mirror
Still More on Connecting Laos
Rackemup writes "A story on Wired has some updated information on the progess made by the Remote IT Village Project attempting to connect several isolated villages deep in the Laotian Jungle to the rest of the world using wireless networks, pedal-power and Laonux (customized Linux installs translated into the Laotian language). Power surges can be a hassle when the nearest computer store is hundreds of miles away, but they're shooting for a May 18th "go live" date."
With the threat of SARS, should we connect Laos to the internet? I say no! We don't know how this disease spreads, and it could very well be the internet. FACT: SARS did not become a problem until AFTER the internet was created and spread to China!! It's true, you can look it up.
We can't even get internet everywhere. Why is the US, "greatest" nation ever always so far behind with everything. Makes me sick
While the PC is king in the "Developed" world, in places where maintenence of PCs and ruggedness is a serious issue, game consoles, with their inherently simple setup, and much lower cost of ownership and maintenence than PCs are much more viable.
At Nintendo, we've done a lot of research into uses of Nintendo consoles other than gaming, such as using it as a inexpensive terminal for Internet access, or more compellingly, education, and we have done preliminary work with various Laotian and others governmental bodies and NGOs to make games such as Super Marx Brothers and The Legend of Kaysone Phomvihan to teach Laotian youth in new and engaging dynamic ways.
Using older game consoles such as N64 and even SNES/SFC enables schools, particularly in rural areas, to immediately gain the benefits of technology without the cost and maintainence expense and support requirements associated with traditional PC platforms. We look forward to seeing Internet connectivity provided by this project coupled with non-traditional uses of our gaming platforms, and seeing the social impact it could potentially create.
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
...when I hear about this kind of shit. Why force these cultures into the modern world before they're ready? What's the point? So they can have cheap access to porn, X-10 popup ads, giant companies, and general ignorance? Is this an attempt at large multinational corporations to market to *every* human on the planet? Yeah, let's homogenize the planet. Let's make every person the exact same Wal-Mart shopping, Gap-wearing drone. Leave no corner of the planet untouched. I mean, they don't have NET access!! What's wrong with these people??
Leave them alone, for christs's sake. They'll seek out the Net when and if they're ever ready. I envy any culture that's not exposed to this rathole of commercialism and crap called "The Media". My goal in life is to make enough money so I can afford to drop out completely. These people have been spared, so leave it to some stupid "welldoer" to fuck it all up.