I've been thinking about the $100 laptop and enjoyed the Banksy style take on it that Jonny Baker posted about (from gizmondo: a moment of perspective).
One of my favourite quotes from the $100 laptop website FAQ is the following:
"In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home."
#$%&*%^@$%^$*!!!!
as my sister and wife just pointed out, why not just buy them $10 windup lamps? better yet (i suggested) if they need information too, give them a book to read and then burn for light...
This technotopic vision seems to me to really be about not saving the word (as if) but about saving cyberspace. The biggest problem (as I see it) with the Internet saving us (humankind) is the issue of access. How can we claim it is the great democratic and freespeech leveler unless everyone has one? so save the internet and give everyone a laptop. they wouldn't even dream of selling it to buy food... unless of course they access the internet and start getting ideas...
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