TTC #265 Connectivity Is Important As Water

Dr. Michail Bletsas, Research Scientist & the Director of Computing at MIT’s Media Lab was one of the founding members of the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ initiative, in 2005. He is a strong proponent of Connectivity, as he considers it is as necessary as our water supply; it provides the basis for communication, which he firmly believes distinguishes us humans from other complex species on this planet; it acted as the primary catalyst to help us “invent” social networking, law, religion, democracy and currency. He talks about the emerging, telephony and mobile, convergence; the EU and USA research environments versus that of China’s, and how the latter’s lack of institutions may prove critical in the failure or success equation. Finally, he discusses the OLPC legacy, as the result of an elaborate demo, conducted by MIT, ever. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.