First off, I was homeschooled.
Number two, did those people have wierd relationships with their parents to begin with?
Number three, that (your statement) completely depends on the parents. Lots of people just pull their kids out of school, give them textbooks and call that homeschooling. Which is really irrisponsible. However, there are parents who
realize that they can{t just pull their kid out
of school and then expect the kid to be "normal".
They incourage (as my parents did me) to "get the hell out of the house and off the computer and go do something with an actual person". So it totally depends on the parents.
also, if the kid is already having emotional
and realtional problems, then just taking the
kid out of school sure isn}t going to do anything
at all unless the parents wake up and try to communicate with their kid.
Wrong on a couple of points. I would say
(I have no concrete figures) that the majority of people in South America (excluding Brazil, they don't speak Spanish) DO have access to the Net. Because of tourism, there are Internet stores all over the place. And that's not just in the big cities either. Even in the little smaller cities near the jungle, there are stores providing access. Whether everyone can afford it is another issue (cost about the equiv of 1 us dollar and hour) but ALOT of people are have the access...
....and I thought my K6 400 mhz was hot.
As is is now, I'm using it as a heater in
my room. It actually puts out more heat then
the two space heaters I have.
I wish the whole book was posted so I could read his final conclusion. I think that throwing out copyright laws would be a bad move for a lot of people. On the other hand, people copyrighting phrases is insane. "Hey, umm... I'm sorry but you're gonna have to fork over some cash to me. I own the patent to the English Language." Who the hell is running the patent office anyway??? A reform of the Office of Patents (Or whatever it's title is;-)) would be a good start.
People are either addicts or they're not. Anyone who has been through any (blank)Anonymous program can attest to this. It's genetic. How that addiction manifests itself is another story. The goverment banning everything is not going stop people from being addicts. What will is kinda a big subject and it could be argued that nothing will. But the point is:the government has no business messing with people's lives like this. Yes, one should NOT be allowed to sell drugs to minors. And by no means should we support drug dealers or traficers. But not supporting dealers and repressing information is another thing altogether.
There a quite a few reasons that poverty is such a problem here. Here are some of the biggies.
Number 1: Upwards of 90 percent of the population are almost completely native. As you probably know, the nations that colonized South America were not very nice to the natives. After centuries of oppresion and deprivation of opportunity, a lot of people have a very narrow mindset as to their potential. "Why should I try to do something in a better way when it won't make any difference?" is a common (in many cases, not concious) attitude. So many people are just not motivated to do anything different than what they already know.
Number 2: The government is corrupt and self serving. For example, Arequipa, the city where I live, is in the midst of a slight economic recession because the government, in an effort to draw more people to the capital (which equals more money for them) raised the taxes for businesses here considerably and lowered them in Lima. Now it's harder for a business to turn a profit. There are many similar examples. Look it up on the web. You'll find quite a bit of info. (Which is not EVER on TV here)
The problem with some of the comments so far is that they assume that until everyone has the basic physical needs (food, shelter, health care) that technology (and the access to it) is not going to do any real good for Jose Sixpack. That's parially right. But, I have news for yah. That ain't gonna happen anyway the way things are going. Not everyone is going to benefit from it right away.
However, some people will. And are. And those people that are using the knowledge and information available because of the internet are becoming aware of ways to do things differently. They're having new doors opened in their minds. Which is where the changes will actually start.
Also, there are internet cafes all over the place. I mean ALL over the place here. Although usually withouth the coffee;-) Because of the availability, lots of people are using it, albeit mainly for email. But that's important because it's introducing the technology, even if it isn't being fully used yet.
I think Internet access is a win-win situation here. Note: this does not mean that other efforts to improve the standard of living need to be discarded. It's a mistake to think that all effort should be put into one area or to think that two methods are mutually exclusive. Believe me, we need all the help we can get.
There have to be more Slashdotters in South America out there.... their opinions will be the most constructive. So, if you're out there, say something!!!
I know I speak for the majority of Internet users in most of Latin America when I say the the actual cost of Internet connection is not the biggest problem.
The bigger, more pressing issue is the fact that Telefonica (The government sponsored monopoly on telphone service) is billing by the minute for local calls. Where I am, Perú, it costs about 2.50 US an hour for any and all local calls, including dial-up internet access.
And if you want something as extravagent as an ISDN line youre going to have to stop eating and paying rent in order to afford it.
Unless the governments in South America stop supporting the monopoly (not likely in the near future) the only way that it will get better is if Bell South starts implementing wireless services (which Telefonicas monopoly has no control over) and introduces some competition, forcing Telefonica to be reasonable.
Im curious as to what your thoughts are on the Microsoft/Antitrust issue. What is your opinion regarding the governments role in the technical industry? Or any industry for that matter...
Slashdot Mirror
I have to agree. Sort of...
First off, I was homeschooled.
Number two, did those people have wierd relationships with their parents to begin with?
Number three, that (your statement) completely depends on the parents. Lots of people just pull their kids out of school, give them textbooks and call that homeschooling. Which is really irrisponsible. However, there are parents who
realize that they can{t just pull their kid out
of school and then expect the kid to be "normal".
They incourage (as my parents did me) to "get the hell out of the house and off the computer and go do something with an actual person". So it totally depends on the parents.
also, if the kid is already having emotional
and realtional problems, then just taking the
kid out of school sure isn}t going to do anything
at all unless the parents wake up and try to communicate with their kid.
But whatever...
Lemme know what you think.
Okay, I had I thought the other day and I figured this would be a good place to mention it.
Everyone on Slashdot is familiar with trolls. Please note I do not mean flamebait but a troll (as in trolling for fish).
So what if you looked at Scientology (sp?) as a very big troll?
I thought it was slightly interesting.
Please don't be offended. (Not that I'm worried about there being to many that subscribe to that religion on Slashdot, but hey...)
Wrong on a couple of points. I would say
(I have no concrete figures) that the majority of people in South America (excluding Brazil, they don't speak Spanish) DO have access to the Net. Because of tourism, there are Internet stores all over the place. And that's not just in the big cities either. Even in the little smaller cities near the jungle, there are stores providing access. Whether everyone can afford it is another issue (cost about the equiv of 1 us dollar and hour) but ALOT of people are have the access...
Just so ya know...
....and I thought my K6 400 mhz was hot.
As is is now, I'm using it as a heater in
my room. It actually puts out more heat then
the two space heaters I have.
Now if only I had the bandwidth to give it a try... Damn slow modems ;-)
Umm....
I did mean the Office of Copyrights.
Or something. Just so you don't think
I'm a complete moron. (Partial moron)
I wish the whole book was posted so I could read his final conclusion. I think that throwing out copyright laws would be a bad move for a lot of people. On the other hand, people copyrighting phrases is insane. "Hey, umm... I'm sorry but you're gonna have to fork over some cash to me. I own the patent to the English Language." Who the hell is running the patent office anyway??? A reform of the Office of Patents (Or whatever it's title is ;-)) would be a good start.
Uhh, is it just me or is Kevin looking a lot older these days? Check out the article. It features a not so flattering picture of him....
People are either addicts or they're not. Anyone who has been through any (blank)Anonymous program can attest to this. It's genetic. How that addiction manifests itself is another story. The goverment banning everything is not going stop people from being addicts. What will is kinda a big subject and it could be argued that nothing will. But the point is :the government has no business messing with people's lives like this. Yes, one should NOT be allowed to sell drugs to minors. And by no means should we support drug dealers or traficers. But not supporting dealers and repressing information is another thing altogether.
I live in Peru.
;-) Because of the availability,
There a quite a few reasons that poverty is such
a problem here. Here are some of the biggies.
Number 1: Upwards of 90 percent of the population are almost completely native. As you probably know, the nations that colonized South America were not very nice to the natives. After centuries of oppresion and deprivation of opportunity, a lot of people have a very narrow mindset as to their potential. "Why should I try to do something in a better way when it won't make any difference?" is a common (in many cases, not concious) attitude. So many people are just not motivated to do anything different than what they already know.
Number 2: The government is corrupt and self serving. For example, Arequipa, the city where I live, is in the midst of a slight economic recession because the government, in an effort
to draw more people to the capital (which equals more money for them) raised the taxes for businesses here considerably and lowered them in Lima. Now it's harder for a business to turn a profit. There are many similar examples. Look it up on the web. You'll find quite a bit of info. (Which is not EVER on TV here)
The problem with some of the comments so far is that they assume that until everyone has the basic physical needs (food, shelter, health care) that technology (and the access to it) is not going to do any real good for Jose Sixpack. That's parially right. But, I have news for yah. That ain't gonna happen anyway the way things are going. Not everyone is going to benefit from it right away.
However, some people will. And are. And those people that are using the knowledge and information available because of the internet are becoming aware of ways to do things differently. They're having new doors opened in their minds. Which is where the changes will actually start.
Also, there are internet cafes all over the place.
I mean ALL over the place here. Although usually withouth the coffee
lots of people are using it, albeit mainly for email. But that's important because it's introducing the technology, even if it isn't being fully used yet.
I think Internet access is a win-win situation here. Note: this does not mean that other efforts to improve the standard of living need to be discarded. It's a mistake to think that all effort should be put into one area or to think that two methods are mutually exclusive. Believe me, we need all the help we can get.
There have to be more Slashdotters in South America out there.... their opinions will be the most constructive. So, if you're out there, say something!!!
The bigger, more pressing issue is the fact that Telefonica (The government sponsored monopoly on telphone service) is billing by the minute for local calls. Where I am, Perú, it costs about 2.50 US an hour for any and all local calls, including dial-up internet access.
And if you want something as extravagent as an ISDN line youre going to have to stop eating and paying rent in order to afford it.
Unless the governments in South America stop supporting the monopoly (not likely in the near future) the only way that it will get better is if Bell South starts implementing wireless services (which Telefonicas monopoly has no control over) and introduces some competition, forcing Telefonica to be reasonable.
Until then, were kinda stuck with what we have.
Im curious as to what your thoughts are on the Microsoft/Antitrust issue. What is your opinion regarding the governments role in the technical industry? Or any industry for that matter...