Category Archives: Technology

The Archdruid Report

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Yaacov

The Archdruid Report is John Michael Greer’s blog and a very worthwhile read. Greer is the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. Let me assure you that you won’t find any pseudo-scientific New Age nonsense on … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Environment, Technology | Leave a comment

OLPCnews Guest Article

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Yaacov

OLPCnews asked me to write a short guest article linking to my talk about the One Laptop Per Child project earlier this year. There are some good links to documents about education technologies in international development in the comments.

Posted in Technology | Leave a comment

Not What Was Expected

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Yaacov

Unintended consequences of technology are one of the hidden realities of “progress”. They fascinate me for two reasons, first because of what they reveal about human knowledge and second because of how we move from learning about the disastrous unintended … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Technology | Leave a comment

One Way Streets

Posted on January 27, 2009 by Yaacov

CBC is reporting that Montreal may ban insults to police. Let’s count the reasons that’s a terrible idea. For a start, it’s unlikely to have much effect in the two situations that are cited as the reasons for the law, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Ideas, CBC | Leave a comment

OLPC Downsizing

Posted on January 8, 2009 by Yaacov

This spring, as the One Laptop Per Child project was deploying over 300,000 laptops in Peru and Uruguay, I gave a talk warning of major shortcomings in the program. Yesterday, the OLPC announced that it was cutting its staff by … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | 1 Comment