Dvorak might do well to note how little traditional forms of aid do for the world's poor. In Africa, it's been found that countries receiving the most aid for the poor tend to improve the least over the course of decades. No surprise, really: Misguided international aid props up countries and allows local despots to continue to pillage the country and ignore needed structural reforms. On the other hand, countries receiving the least aid collapsed, bringing the despot down and ushering hope for a new, better system.
The OLPC project is aid of a different sort. It is a channel for knowledge of the outside and better ways of doing things.
It won't put food in the stomach of children, but it may put ideas in their heads that will help break the cycle of poverty that Dvorak's billions of bushels of rice have done little to stop. It is certainly an experiment worth trying.
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Dvorak might do well to note how little traditional forms of aid do for the world's poor. In Africa, it's been found that countries receiving the most aid for the poor tend to improve the least over the course of decades. No surprise, really: Misguided international aid props up countries and allows local despots to continue to pillage the country and ignore needed structural reforms. On the other hand, countries receiving the least aid collapsed, bringing the despot down and ushering hope for a new, better system. The OLPC project is aid of a different sort. It is a channel for knowledge of the outside and better ways of doing things. It won't put food in the stomach of children, but it may put ideas in their heads that will help break the cycle of poverty that Dvorak's billions of bushels of rice have done little to stop. It is certainly an experiment worth trying.