Ethiopian kids hack OLPCs in 5 months with zero instruction

[Gin Master]

We left the boxes in the village. Closed. Taped shut. No instruction, no human being. I thought, the kids will play with the boxes! Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, but found the on/off switch. He'd never seen an on/off switch. He powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs [in English] in the village. And within five months, they had hacked Android.

I'm trying way too hard at this parenting thing.

[Turdacious]

You've really come to dominate the toneless non sequitur as a mode.

ORLY? I've seen development work in action, from the rooter to the tooter-- you haven't.

Fair enough. I know very little about giving away free stuff. Now quit being so oblique.. We couldn't bear to have an amusing anecdote to go unrebutted.

It's largely private money...what's the tragedy here?

It is possible that it is largely private money, but that's doubtful. My guess is the money for their operating expenses comes from the trough, and that the distribution is publicly funded (allowing both government and the OLPC can take credit for the success).

The old axiom about too good to be true seems appropriate here. Those who believe the hype about development work and then actually see it in action tend to become skeptics-- I'm one.

[Blaidd Drwg]

I understand...what about some first hand development knowledge?

I don't buy Bats argument they can just build a library...fuck...I really don't care if they do. But the law of unintended consequences is always amusing to me and the story rings mostly true as a parent. You gotta remember, kids are like prisoners, they have a lot of captive free time and idle minds and can un-engineer complex systems quite rapidly.

[Bob Wildes]

Am I the only one that finds this to be creepy wrapped in benevolence?

No, I think that you nailed it.

[bigpeach]

I believe it because when I was 4, I could tell you what day of the week any day in history fell on, and not just with 1-in-7 accuracy. Once I started going to school and being taught how to do math, I couldn't do that any more. Same went for Rubik's Cube. I could do that shit when it was all the rage and I was 5. Could only use it as a weapon by the time I was 7, but I was acing my multiplication tables and other shit I would never need again by that time.

[WildGorillaMan]

Seriously though. These villages are in the middle of nowhere. How did the observers keep in contact with the tablets to pull the data?

[Blaidd Drwg]

Seriously though. These villages are in the middle of nowhere. How did the observers keep in contact with the tablets to pull the data?

Same way we are keeping track of you now.....

[Turdacious]

I understand...what about some first hand development knowledge?

I don't buy Bats argument they can just build a library...fuck...I really don't care if they do. But the law of unintended consequences is always amusing to me and the story rings mostly true as a parent. You gotta remember, kids are like prisoners, they have a lot of captive free time and idle minds and can un-engineer complex systems quite rapidly.

This is pretty good on why to be skeptical. My experience was largely being associated with projects with similar success rates. One good thing about AID, the first thing they always do is to stock the bar.