第三世界百元筆電 掀激辯 A Third-World Laptop Provokes a Big Debate 王麗娟譯 電腦業高層聽說有人計畫為開發中世界的兒童製造每臺一百美元的筆記型電腦 時，普遍加以冷嘲熱諷。他們問，單是螢幕造價就要一百美元，何來這種電腦？ CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — When computer industry executives heard about a plan to build a $100 laptop for the developing world’s children, they generally ridiculed the idea. How could you build such a computer, they asked, when screens alone cost about $100? 一個洞見，將百元筆電從烏托邦般的美夢變身為可用的電腦原型，計畫首席科 技顧問瑪麗露．杰普森形容這是個「超怪的點子」。 Mary Lou Jepsen, the chief technologist for the project, likes to refer to the insight that transformed the machine from utopian dream to working prototype as “a really wacky idea.” 曾任英特爾晶片設計師的杰普森找到方法，改良傳統筆電的顯示幕，將螢幕製 造成本壓到40美元，同時減少耗電量80%以上。新技術還附帶一項好處，在陽 光下顯示幕仍清晰可讀。 Ms. Jepsen, a former Intel chip designer, found a way to modify conventional laptop displays, cutting the screen’s manufacturing cost to $40 while reducing its power consumption by more than 80 percent. As a bonus, the display is clearly visible in sunlight. 「一童一筆電」的非營利計畫，就靠上述等等技術進步，過去兩年半以來，讓 無數懷疑論者服服氣氣。阿根廷、巴西、利比亞、奈及利亞、泰國五國已暫時 承諾，讓數以百萬計學生擁有這部電腦。這款百元筆電預計2007年中期開始在 臺灣生產。 That advance and others have allowed the nonprofit project, One Laptop Per Child, to win over many skeptics over the last two and a half years. Five countries — Argentina, Brazil, Libya, Nigeria and Thailand — have made tentative commitments to put the computers into the hands of millions of students, with production in Taiwan expected to begin by mid-2007. 這款筆電不用微軟視窗作業系統，連硬碟都不用，螢幕也很小。製造成本現在 已接近150美元，而不是一百美元。但這種價格仍將改變開發中國家的經濟等式。 The laptop does not come with a Microsoft Windows operating system or even a hard drive, and the screen is small. And the cost is now closer to $150 than $100. But the price tag, even compared with low-end $500 laptops now widely available, transforms the economic equation for developing countries. 由知名電腦研究人員尼可拉斯‧尼葛洛龐帝想出來的這項努力，仍然無可避免 地成為一項論戰的焦點，雙方為電腦對學習與經濟發展的價值各執一詞。 That has not prevented the effort, conceived by Nicholas Negroponte, a prominent computer researcher, from becoming the focal point of a debate over the value of computers to both learning and economic development. 反對貶抑者包括英特爾與微軟，兩大電腦巨擘另有所圖。英特爾針對校園與教 育計畫，鎖定教師而非學生，研發一款400 美元的筆電。微軟董事長兼頭號慈 善家比爾‧蓋茲則質疑尼葛洛龐帝的概念，說「僅是炮製我們在富裕世界的作 法」，並認定此法也有益開發中國家。 The detractors include two computer industry giants, Intel and Microsoft, pushing alternative approaches. Intel has developed a $400 laptop aimed at schools as well as an education program that focuses on teachers instead of students. And Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and a leading philanthropist for the third world, has questioned whether the concept is “just taking what we do in the rich world” and assuming that that is something good for the developing world, too. 「麻省理工學院媒體實驗室」創辦人尼葛洛龐帝說，他的小機器受到如此重視 ，他感到很有意思。他已不是第一次因預告科技前景而受到挑戰。他說：「這 就像大家只注意哥倫布的船，而不看他要往何處去。各位必須記得，這一切都 是為了教育。」 Mr. Negroponte, the founding director of the M.I.T. Media Laboratory, said he was amused by the attention his little machine was getting. It is not the first time he has been challenged for proclaiming technology’s promise. “It’s as if people spent all of their attention focusing on Columbus’s boat and not on where he was going,” he said in an interview here. “You have to remember that what this is about is education.” 電腦學家與教育家、也是這項計畫的顧問賽穆爾‧派普特說，兒童擁有電腦而 能自己探索，就能「學習如何學習」。派普特說，這是一項有用的學習技巧， 比側重記憶和考試的傳統教學方法更有用。 Seymour Papert, a computer scientist and educator who is an adviser to the project, has argued that if young people are given computers and allowed to explore, they will “learn how to learn.” That, Mr. Papert argues, is a more valuable skill than traditional teaching strategies that focus on memorization and testing. 這項構想也包括將系統維修責任大半交給兒童，不再仰賴他人，也不用官僚機 構插手。 The idea is also that children can take on much of the responsibility for maintaining the systems, rather than relying on or creating bureaucracies to do so. 杰普森說：「我們相信，必須讓兒童起槓桿作用，發揮影響力。他們就是學習 機。」 “We believe you have to leverage the kids themselves,” Ms. Jepsen said. “They’re learning machines.” 她以筆電背光模組為例。根據設計，此物壽命五年，但是萬一壞了，必須和換 閃光燈(手電筒)的電池一樣簡單。她說，這是兒童也會做的事。 As an example, she pointed to the backlight used by the laptop. Although it is designed to last five years, if it fails it can be replaced as simply as batteries are replaced in a flashlight. It is something a child can do, she said. 這套理論，也是這項計畫的世界觀核心，引起一些異議。 That philosophy, at the heart of the project’s world view, has stirred criticism. 史丹福大學教育教授賴利‧古班說：「如果電力不成問題，我認為將電腦交到 小孩和父母手中很棒，會影響他們的人生。如果他們的理論是這東西將在各國 帶動教育革命，我不以為然，他們對正規教育的現實太天真無知。」 “I think it’s wonderful that the machines can be put in the hands of children and parents, and it will have an impact on their lives if they have access to electricity,” Larry Cuban, a Stanford University education professor, said in an interview. “However, if part of their rationale is that it will revolutionize education in various countries, I don’t think it will happen, and they are naive and innocent about the reality of formal schooling.” 這款電腦在臺灣的廣達電腦（全球第二大筆電廠）開始全面生產時，爭論必定 將邁入一個新階段。雖然一般消費者無法購買，這款筆電可能成為全球最熱賣 的一款可攜式電腦。 The debate is certain to enter a new phase when the machines go into full-scale production by Taiwan-based Quanta Computer, the world’s second-largest laptop maker. Even though it will not be available to consumers, the laptop could become the best-selling portable computer in the world. 這項計畫目前已有三百萬臺的承購量，獲得非洲、拉丁美洲、亞洲至少各一國 提出承諾，總訂單達五百萬台時，將開始大規模量產。尼葛洛龐帝說，根據現 在的談判結果，預期2007年年中可達這項目標。 The project now has tentative commitments for three million computers and will begin large-scale manufacturing when it reaches five million with separate commitments from at least one country each in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Based on current negotiations, Mr. Negroponte says he expects that goal to be reached by mid-2007. 美洲開發銀行11月15日簽字，同意提供購買電腦的貸款與捐款，為計畫注入一 帖有力的強心劑。 The project got a significant boost on Nov. 15 when the Inter-American Development Bank signed an agreement to supply both loans and grants to buy the machines. 世界銀行執行董事、獨立經濟發展專家胡安‧荷西‧達布比說：「幾年前，我 認為這只是幻想或不切實際的烏托邦點子，現在它已成真，令人士氣大振。」 “Several years ago, I thought it was an illusion or a utopian idea,” said Juan Jose Daboub, managing director of the World Bank and an independent economic-development expert. “But this is now real and encouraging.” 接替尼葛洛龐帝成為「媒體實驗室」總裁，目前兼任筆電計畫軟體研發領導人 的電腦研究員華特‧班德說：「這隻特洛伊木馬肚子裡藏的是配備筆電的兒童。」 Walter Bender, a computer researcher who served as director of the Media Laboratory after Mr. Negroponte and now heads software development for the laptop project, said “The soldiers inside this Trojan horse are children with laptops,” By JOHN MARKOFF / NY TIMES 關鍵字句 有人認為替開發中國家兒童製造一百美元的筆記型電腦（laptop／notebook computer），是一種幻想（illusion）。 現在，這項非營利（nonprofit）計畫（project）從不切實際的美夢（utopian dream），轉變成有用的（working）的電腦原型（prototype）。 不過，反對詆毀者（detractor）懷疑電腦對開發中國家兒童的學習與經濟發展 的價值，認為對富國有用的點子，在開發中國家不見得行得通。 （王麗娟） 【2006-12-11/聯合報/B6版/UNITED DAILY NEWS】 -- 趙客縵胡纓 吳鉤霜雪明 銀鞍照白馬 颯沓如流星 十步殺一人 千里不留行 事了拂衣去 深藏身與名 閒過信陵飲 脫劍膝前橫 將炙啖朱亥 持觴勸侯贏 三盃吐然諾 五嶽倒為輕 眼花耳熱後 意氣素霓生 救趙揮金槌 邯鄲先震驚 千秋二壯士 烜赫大梁城 縱使俠骨香 不慚世上英 誰能書閤下 白首太玄經 李白 俠客行 --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 139.223.28.55