Re: [Marxism] Brazil and the Digital Divide

[Les Schaffer <schaffer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Suresh wrote:

> In reality however, much of the ambitious goals that
> were laid out for connecting rural villages and urban
> favelas alike, have not been met or even approached.
> The formula for spreading internet access has been
> very much along the lines of Blairite public-private
> partnerships, and has involved re-shoveling FUST
> monies into costly and ill-conceived contracts for
> telecommunications firms. Meanwhile half of the
> countries 180,000 public schools don’t even have
> telephones, let alone internet access. 

i agree, a healthy dose of cynicism is in order here, to wit, key phrases:

using a "mesh network" initially developed at MIT

its display will use either a rear-projection screen or a type of 
electronic ink invented at the MIT Media Lab

this whole thing sounds more like MIT / Media Lab tooting its horn on 
its own mesh networks and "its own" electronic ink. now, if Negroponte 
promises to kick back profits from the inevitable MIT / Rt 128 
venture-capital-funded start-ups which follow MIT ideas like night 
follows day, then we may have something.

Suresh didnt post this part of the article:

   The most vital part of the plan is also, perhaps, the most
   challenging. Internet access is not cheap in the poor world;
   infrastructure is fragile and expensive to maintain. When I
   challenged Negroponte about this "hidden cost," he conceded, "[This
   is] a very real issue. We are looking at ways to spend less than $1
   per month per child."


a really jaded point of view would add that 100 million units with 
infrastructure costs of $1 / kid per month is just another way of 
capital dumping into LDC. so lets run some numbers: 100 million units 
per year * $12 per year per unit = $1.2B per year into "infrastructure". 
and if the program last 5 years, thats 500 million units, or $6B / year. 
maybe this is worst case, but Negroponte is vague on how to develop this 
infrastructure for the worlds many billions currently without. and are 
we guaranteed who will control this infrastructure development and 
invesment?


Suresh goes on to quote:

> Profits will be very limited: merely $10 per machine for equipment 
> manufacturers. Of
> course, building a laptop for $1000 demands what economists call “economies of scale”. 
> Negroponte’s pilot project requires commitments for at least six million orders. So far, China has 
> expressed an interest in buying two million machines [snip] At least at first, the machines would be built 
> in China, where Negroponte has been talking to manufacturers…

a really really jaded viewpoint: Negroponte has teamed up with some 
venture capital in China looking for some quick high-volume, low-cost 
orders. another paragraph previously unquoted:

   Not everyone is convinced. On the record, few are willing to cast
   doubt on such a worthy project, but some informed people to whom I
   spoke wondered whether the Chinese were accurately estimating the
   costs of manufacturing the HDL.

bid low, get job, take high ...

nice idea, something in me says it wont get done nicely. as JOhn Lennon 
said, "i got a feelin, a feelin deep inside, oh yea"

les schaffer



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