monline

Maybe you've already got word of this: One Laptop per Child. The MIT Media Lab has launched a research initiative to develop a $100 laptop - a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. To achieve this goal, a non-profit association, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has been created, which is independent of MIT.

The apropos of my post is that Boing Boing posted an article with a link to an image gallery of the new laptop. It's quite amazing.

The description of the hardware proves again that today's PCs are sold very much over their actual value. These cheap laptops are going to introduce computer technology to a whole new range of people all over the world. However I think that today the biggest potential of computing lies in the power to connect people to one another. But for that they'll need an internet connection as well. So the next task should be to bring cheap (or maybe even "free"?) internet access to them ... and actually to everybody.

I believe that people are capable of doing great things, when they work together and today the best way to let them talk to each other is the internet. Mankinds true potential will be released only, when communication will not be bound to money at all. Of course this sounds quite utopistic , but hey: real things come to life by first someone dreaming of it.