A View on View :: North Korea: Luddite Nation

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North Korea: Luddite Nation

by Mark Evans on Mon 23 Oct 2006 07:41 AM EDT | Permanent Link

For all of us techno-geeks obsessed with gadgets and having a big, honking connection to the Web, the New York Times has a fascinating story about North Korea, which isn't connected to the Internet at all (although some high-power politicians apparently have access). Can you imagine a world with no e-mail, no Google, no YouTube, no Daily Show clips? There's a wonderful quote from Julien Pain, head of the Internet desk at Reporters Without Borders, who describes North Korea as "by far the worst Internet black hole". One more thing, North Korea banned cell phones in 2004.

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Re: North Korea: Luddite Nation

by John Dowdell on Mon 23 Oct 2006 09:50 AM EDT | Permanent Link

"Can you imagine a world with no e-mail, no Google, no YouTube, no Daily Show clips?"

When Clinton was president...?

Most of the world doesn't own computers, and many never will. We've got to figure out how to make these technologies accessible to all the brains out there, even if we can't deal directly with local political strongmen.

Re: Re: North Korea: Luddite Nation

by Mark Evans on Mon 23 Oct 2006 12:22 PM EDT | Profile | Permanent Link

excellent point. maybe nicholas negroponte's $100 PC is one way of addressing this divide.

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