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Bridging the Digital Divide With PCtvt?
maddu writes "Dr. Raj Reddy, a pioneering researcher in artificial intelligence and a
professor at Carnegie Mellon University, plans to unveil his new project, called the PCtvt, later this year - it's a $250 wirelessly
networked personal computer intended for the four billion people around
the world who live on less than $2,000 a year, according to the NYT (free reg. req.) He says his device can find a market in developing countries,
particularly those with large populations of people who cannot read,
because it can be controlled by a simple TV remote control and can
function as a television, telephone and videophone." We've previously covered the somewhat conceptually related Simputer.
No-Reg Link
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Reg free link plus related articles. (NYT is the 2nd one right now)
http://west.cmu.edu/executive/pdc/projects/pctvt/p ctvt.htm
s to ries/2004031301820700.htm
/ ms id-423423,prtpage-1.cms
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/03/13/
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow
TruePunk | Games
... maybe they should spend their money on food and birth control? I mean, what good is the 'net when you have 8 kids hungry at home? Seriously, the net is a wonderful tool but it's not going to magically transform a shantytown into a utopia.
I see this, time and time again. It appears to be sound reasoning: Why invest in XYZ information technology when they're going hungry?
The answer is astonishingly simple - Information is the key to finding out how to feed those hungry kids! If the problem is corruption in the local govt, information is the key to coming up with a solution. If the problem is lack of farming technology, where do you think the solution might be found, if not in what is perhaps the largest information repository in the world?
Also, information itself has direct value - how many of us here feed our families by accessing, processing, and developing information?
I feed my 5 hungry kids every day doing this!
When Gutenberg created the printing press 450 years ago, what he really did, in effect, was leverage the power of knowledge, and extend the reach of those who knew to many, many more people that didn't.
The Internet is an extension of that same idea. Why would you deny these people the fruits of YOUR knowledge just because they are lacking in some basic amenity, when that knowledge may well help them solve that deficiency?
Another take: if you have $1,000, and you need to make a $750 house payment, AND a $750 work truck payment, which do you pay?
Answer: Pay the work truck. Using the work truck will help you make the house payment, but using the house will not help you pay for your truck.
These computers are roughly analogous to the work truck...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
The article fails to mention that Raj Reddy was already on the Microsoft payroll. See this four year old MS article, or poke around where appropriate.
Making the world a better place, one psychotic episode at a time.
I'm not sure how the PCtvt is really relevent; it seems to be based on the assumption that for PCs to be useful, they need to be in people's living rooms.
When I was travelling through Peru and Bolivia, almost every town that had electricity has a communications center; which was pretty much an Internet Cafe where people could not just access the Internet, but also make phone calls and do other things. These were not set up for tourists; these places seemed to get the bulk of their business from locals.
There didn't seem to be a shortage of these communications centers; frankly they were more common in Bolivia than they are in the USA (which to be fair is just because in the USA we have our computers at home). Given this ubiquity, what more is really needed?
I have relatives that have less than $2000 anual income in Asia. In fact, when I send them $250 for xmas, that'll buy them (family of 4) food for 2 months, however, I know for a fact that they are saving that money for college tuition for their eldest because they see education as their way out of poverty. IF there were a computer for $250 I'm 100% positive they'll buy one and go a few months with "less" food (even without my help).
the grand majority of those 4 billion people not only live on less than $2000 a year- they live on less than $365 a year (since the going wage at the bottom of the third world is $1/day)
Hmm... Can you see where you made a mistake? "Bottom" != "Grand Majority". There are a lot of people for which this device could be affordable. He says in the article that he is targeting people where the cost represents 5% of yearly income - perhaps roughly the same as the proportion of a normal computer cost to average annual income in the western world. Getting computers into the hands of more people can only be good for skills development and the future of these countries. Look at India or Pakistan's software industry, for example.
- Many infants and children do not reach adulthood
- It's their only source of cheap labor
- It also serves as their retirement plan (Hopefully one or more of the children will do well enough to support them living with them in old age - these are not people with 401Ks who move to a Florida retirement community.)
Anything that can be done to help their (or their children's) education levels is often better than any other source of help they might receive.I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress -J Adams