Nicholas Negroponte takes OLPC to Colombia

http://www.ted.com TED follows Nicholas Negroponte to Colombia as he delivers laptops inside territory once controlled by guerrillas. His partner? Colombia's Defense Department, who see One Laptop per Child as an investment in the region. (And you too can get involved.)

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Nicholas
• Negroponte
• OLPC
• Colombia
• TED
• One
• Laptop
• Per
• Child
• Global
• Investment

[Panpiper]

People can do evil, with good intent. People can also do good, despite evil intent. I care little what motivates a person to do a deed. I care a great deal about the deed done. Getting these laptops to kids is a good thing. If some crook finds a way to gain by getting large numbers of them to kids who would otherwise not have them, then I have no issues. Would that all crooks would do so.

[kitsunde]

Only Americans think it's cool to "be gangsta", the rest of us think it's a pretty ridiculous concept.

[NicosNicosNicosNicos]

@GrannySays That the continent's biggest human rights abuser (the Colombian military -backed by the US) is a nice fluffy santa-claus.

[NicosNicosNicosNicos]

@PolarBeamz Except in this case it is murdering civilians AND giving them laptops.

[ErichoTTA]

Now these are people who are truly changing the world.

[eap8317]

It is a great iniciative as children need access to information in an unbias way. If this laptops don't have prerecorded government or corporation propaganda then they will a powerful tool to expand information and knowledge...I hope this is not used as another expansionist tool for the american empire..but at first it seems a very good thing...

[anydrah]

OLPC makes a great contribution to equal opportunities of children. They act. Great respect!

To support the effort, the Online Schoolbook GOLD DUST is now available to students. You can add it to your homepage or the XO. The GOLD DUST story is the merging of imagination and scientific facts, a peer-reviewed educational content and an open educational resource. Let you inspire by the interactive and interdiciplinary textbook and give your valuable comments.

[edjcastro]

I suggest you to stfu and learn something about Colombia before writing.

[mynameisnicholas]

Agreed.

[theresponderful]

I feel like I'm on crazy pills. The Colombian military has unleashed more death and destruction on its people than the FARC ever has. Google "False Positives Colombia" for just one example. TED has lowered itself to the position of propaganda pusher for a regime with one of the worst human rights records in the world. I also suggest google-ing Nick's older brother, John Negroponte, the orchestrator of US intervention in Central America in the 1980s.

[leanonme1]

cant these laptops connect to the internet??? can they see the same websites as i can? can they watch TED on youtube????

[nawitus]

Too bad OLPC was bought out by Microsoft.