Nicholas Negroponte, MIT: The Future of the Future: Can ...



Nicholas Negroponte, MIT: The Future of the Future: Can Chinese foreign policy change world social and economic development through the advancement of telecommunications?Development:Telecom is developmentChina beloved in Africa, 55 countries – people in US don’t realize this – Africa is complicated, difficulties of development. US/ USAID does check writing development – corruption is about 35% of world econ. Chinese development aid tends to be buildings, roads – they build it with Chinese workers and machines – hence zero corruption. But leave zero know-how and equipment/ machinery. Doesn’t help long term development. Largest Chinese mil op recently was withdrawing 30k Chinese from Tripoli.China provides turn-key solutionsIndia plays no role outside of IndiaUSA consumed by mil spendingEducationLong term solution to anything is educationKey is primary education. No pol is motivated by primary edu b/c takes too long for impact (10-15 yrs).Two- and three-shift school. Limited infrastructure but fewer hours per wk of schooling for kids.Added need for wireless to be seamless. P2P, mesh networks, OLPC.Need to leverage the kids. 70% girls/ 40% boys don’t go to school. 25% teacher illiterate. Next 25% are only 1 year ahead of kids.OLPC1982 – Senegal project2001 – Cambodia – project – kids with connected laptopsWill normal market forces accomplish what his projects are doing?Colors come from Nigerian national color (green/white).Now is tablet for books and games. Put 100 books on it. Each one gets different 100 books. 10k booksSierra Leone – English is national lang but no one speaks it – kids learn – no written native languageEthiopia – different calendar, no std keyboard, etcViews OLPC as means to education (not an accessory)Tablet – may not have to make it, may just have to threaten to (and others will make it)Learning to ReadUN: 69MM don’t go to first grade; Negroponte says 100MM. Can you give kids a laptop/tablet and walk away? Can they learn to read on their own? If so, can read to learn. (by playing with laptop)Costs: 300MM children in Africa (5-12 or 15 y/o), $0.75/ week/ child = $12BQ: Asking about trials in India. A: india has dysfunctional fed govt, ok state govt. project didn’t go anywhere. DDC: to what extent does student get localized experience for his own country? Are we pushing English, western civilization?A: bilingual. 2.5-3MM laptops, very few are English only. Reading project is English only.Q (R&D, Huawei): is internet available in these countries?A: 80-90% not connected. In some countries – Uruguay, Rwanda, peru – they’re connected. Working on it.Q (essie, nokia): reading project: how to make sure kids are interested enough to work with it 8-10 hrs/ day?A: game-like. Cartoons. Stories, books.Q: what is the implication of china being more beloved in Africa (vs US, or other)?A: too late. Dislikes national competitiveness. ................
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