Les Jones

News > About Those $100 Laptops

Markos Kloos notes that those cheap laptops intended for children in third world countries are actually extremely valuable in the local currency, and that could be a problem.

What would happen in the United States, with our developed civil justice system and ample police presence, if a foreign organization gave a piece of hardware worth $30,000 to every needy minor in this country? Do you think their parents, neighbors, and neighborhood crooks would just smile and say, "Good for you"? Or do you think a significant number of those devices would end up getting stolen, traded, or sold in very short order, possibly resulting in injuries or deaths to many of the kids who didn't want to give up their new gizmo voluntarily?

I wish the world was just a big, happy place where nobody ever harmed anyone else, but human nature is what it is. Programs like this one are laudable in their scope and intent, but they completely fail to take that human nature into consideration. It's another example of folks setting themselves up for heartbreak by causing bad results with the best of intentions.