Pessemistic, but it certainly has SOME truth to it.

The soccer ball has cobwebs on it? That's a little over the top.

the olpc will show poor children that there is better places in the world. that will make them sad. they will dream about iphone, macbook, cadillac... and forget about food.

Ah yes, the third world is a happy paradise full of smiling children playing simple games.

@bandit: yeah. it's so over the top, it's almost comical . . .

@s5:

no
is a unhappy hell extremely full of crying children starving to death

but there are so many different 3rd worlds around there...

So true.

Joy of Tech is a very good e-comic. But for the intellectual types you should checkout xkcd.com

OXFAM and Doctors Without Border are doing way more to help than OLPC. Instead of giving to OLPC "charity" (so you can be the first in the 'hood with a trendy OLPC laptop) you would do better to give to these groups.

PS: I wonder if Nic has ever confronted his brother John on his involvement in training right-wing death squads in Honduras and exporting them to neighboring Central American countries. His brother played a key role in the death of lots of people in the 80s. If the OLPC revenue were going to prosecute John Negroponte for crimes against humanity I'd buy.

I think they've got a few more years before they get to this point. They've got to send these computers to schools so these kids can learn...or play Oregon Trail.

I think technology can do a lot for everyone, but it has to be the right technology applied in the right place at the right time by people who want to use it for maximum overall benefit.

That's a lot of variables, not the least of which is the human one.

That's just silly.

I'd say more, but I'm busy making a shirtless video for YouTube and Firefox wants to install some update. If you want, you can IM me and we can talk about it more there and maybe play some WoW.

Now how do I submit a comment again? Right..click...her

The strips make some good points but are typically over-generalizing and idealized. Of course not all 3rd world countries are full of happy, smiling children playing. Neither are they all hellholes of disease and faminine. Hint: Only parts of Africa are drought-stricken or war-bound, not all of the continent.

Here's another way to look at the strips: The author is uncomfortable with the idea that his nations domination as a leader nation will erode even faster if 3rd world countries, poor in technology, are given building blocks to advance their own technology base. So he draws comic strips to imply that poor countries with laptops would be a ruination of paradise, and that the children would be better off without laptops.

See also: The Singularity

@92BuickLeSabre: Behold, the mighty power of the internet. All shall praise Albert Gore, Jr. for the boons he has bestowed on mankind.

Hail the mighty YouTube - whose innovation allows us to interact with Presidential candidates dressed as snowmen

Hail the mighty Google - whose search powers allow us to accrue more pornography than any person should every own

Hail the mighty World of Warcraft - follower of the Path of Everquest - whose shallow yet addictive gameplay tears relationships asunder

Hail the mighty TWOP - whose moderators enable addiction to contrived television series under a veneer of sarcasm

Hail the mighty LiveJournal and its brethren WordPress and Blogger - whose mighty AJAX interface gives voices to people so that they may whine

Hail the mighty Facebook - whose applications put a palatable face on marketing

Hail the mighty MySpace - whose themes took up the mantle left on the ground by the fallen GeoCities

Hail the mighty Twitter - whose updates allow the world to keep tabs on our every hiccup and bowel movement

Hail the mighty Bittorrent - son of traitorous Napster - which causes fits of apoplexy among copyright holders and a keen sense of entitlement in our now-felonious youth

Hail the mighty iTunes - which has taken the Sceptre of Oligarchy from the RIAA and recast it as the Rod of Monarchy to be wielded by Steven Jobs

All these boons have been delivered unto us by the great Albert Gore, Jr. All hail him and the boon of lessened productivity.

Lets compare apple to apples the OLPC was never really intended for home use in developed countries it was made to be used in developing countries hence the low power processor, hand crank, swivel screen and increased durability the only reason it ended up in our hands is because of the classmate caching more support and BOGO was a novel way of getting into the hands of those that could use it. Also its half the price of the EEE ($399 buys two, half the cost is tax deductible)so you're comparing a $199 laptop to a $399 laptop

@kiwijaws: oops this should be in the OLPC vs eee story dumbass

@omg-ponies: Aaaaameeeeen

@AndersonBMX:
It's called sarcasm.

@omg-ponies:
Best. Post. Ever.