To critizite OLPC is to be labelled “stupid” but could this ambitious visionary be one of the best brains on the planet? Well, look around you, at least he is not poor. He may claim this idea grew over decades, but my concern is simply this; it is wrong to think an internet enabled gadget (ask Intel who is now a member of the OLPC board) will solve the problem that took about a century to create.

Business gurus talk about “create a cause, not a business but get in first and fast and build it big”. Bill Gates is now in the charity business and is building it very big. Small is not dead, but why does OLPC have to be HUGE? Ego or deep concern about order and relationships in a more productive and constructive way of life? Children are our most precious natural resource but keeping them in the poor village where water is considered gold does not sound good to me.

Fine, lets make this work with the most corrupt nations on the planet and where their people are illegal immigrants everywhere else. The solution to poverty, peace & environment is education and teaching is one but not the only way to achieve learning. Lets teach them how to learn about the internet bomb “all you need is a battery, a 2 liter plastic bottle, and hydrogen peroxide(3% by solution is fine), a hammer and a sharp nail”..

OLPC, great idea, but wait, I am considered stupid yet my trips in and out of airports have become a nightmare where I am subjected to the worst type of delays, all because the new human netowrks has made me a little bit clever.