I think the Media Lab's most widely known project was probably the failed One Laptop Per Child initiative, which I think perfectly illustrates my point.
Turns out what people in the third world need isn't donated laptops, it's liberation from an economic system which keeps them deliberately impoverished. They need food, vaccines, unions, debt jubilees and nationalization of natural resources.
The MML/Berkman ideology is literally that laptops bring wealth. In reality, wealth brings laptops.
Turns out what people in the third world need isn't donated laptops, it's liberation from an economic system which keeps them deliberately impoverished. They need food, vaccines, unions, debt jubilees and nationalization of natural resources.
The MML/Berkman ideology is literally that laptops bring wealth. In reality, wealth brings laptops.