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aravana's sift of the project's launch: http://www.videosift.com/video/One-Laptop-Per-Child-introduced-at-TED-Talks which deserves more than 14, imho. Comments  playlists with this video global progress by my15minutes
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TED - Nicholas Negroponte: One Laptop Per Child, 2 Years On Related Videos
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the rest of the sifts that came up, on the check-for-possible-dupes page:
http://www.videosift.com/video/One-Laptop-Per-Child-introduced-at-TED-Talks
http://www.videosift.com/video/One-Laptop-Per-Child-XO-Prototype-Demo-at-Siggraph
http://www.videosift.com/video/Yves-Behar-Talks-About-the-100-Laptop
http://www.videosift.com/video/One-Laptop-per-child
http://www.videosift.com/video/Dont-Make-The-Indian-Cry
So many simpler more cost effective ways of alievating poverty. But of course it's hard to sell the idea of a water filter to the Ipod crowd who think clean potable water is a given.
ok farhad. first line, hyperbole much?
and would you feel better if someone in japan, australia, or belgium thought it up instead?
who is this "ipod crowd"?
i don't think that the people who are willing to endorse this, are under the impression that clean water is no longer a problem in africa.
but there are existing organizations working on alleviating that.
shit, dude, johnald and i are members of some on facebook. i'll send you an invite if you like.
or, just search for groups called "the ipod crowd".
so, for the kids that already have decent water and food, but little else, here's the greatest modern tool for communication and education.
go fish.
i don't expect my words to change your mind on the subject, but i know you're capable of better reasoning, than what you provided above.
given how you feel about the project, why the fuck did you upvote this?
Let me articulate myself better then, I worked in the NGO field on programs to do with addressing poverty and lack of education in the developing world. In my experience I have learned a few things:
1) You help people from their stand point not your own, while the one laptop per child seems like a great idea from our stand point in the west, its not exactly what these kids need. The most essential thing they need is electrical power, they need something that will give them the ability to be able to study at night. They need food, books, and clothes.
2) The greatest asset to give them is simple solutions, that can be administrated and if need be repair by themselves. Can they repair a laptop? Can they repair a foot driven water pump?
3) Laptops need electricity and internet access to be really effective.
4) Lets teach Linux to people who will probably be using Windows 3.1 or 95.
I could go on but am tired. I have gone over this issue with others. I just believe there are better solutions and paths to take then giving a laptop. God just take all your books and send it there, books are so scarce in Africa. Most of all $100 dollars might not seem much to us, but $1 is usually what people survive on per day.
These laptops are well inside the "teach a man to fish" field. It's hard to say what the long term effects of giving laptops like these to children will be, but it may very well inspire many to reach higher than they would otherwise.
The laptops have a complete snapshot of Wikipedia on them - that in itself would be a big asset to regions where books are scarce.
In one arguement people don't know what money could be spent on, while on the other arguement they do. I don't think the blame is only to be placed at the feet of initiatives like this but the general attitude towards aid provision to Africa which almost always stems from some kind of pervert pity towards a populace people think can't help themselves.
All Africa needs is direct foreign investment, not piece meal solutions that have not worked for the last 40 years with a price tag of close to a trillion dollars. Laptops for kids is a piece meal solution I believe, yes it could be great in the long term but you are forgetting that again its a technical based solution, most of these laptops will be sold, most of them will be broken, most of all it will not be a handy resource because there is no one to really explain how it can be useful to ordinary people. Yes of course there will be a positive effect but marginal and not as large as it's supporters like to voice.
And recognising that there are a lot bigger and better things that could be done for aid, doesn't make this project bad.
When it comes to economics and business we have institutions like the IMF and World Bank that provide advisory roles on how to open nations to corporate capitalism there is no such unified approach when it comes to aid. Because in the aid business and it is a business, every one hates each other.