CGD in the News

How Come Bill Gates Thinks the Poor Don't Want Internet Access? (Slate)

September 06, 2013

From the Article:

I love mocking Silicon Valley utopianism as much as the next guy, and highly recommend Charles Kenny and Justin Sandefur’s cover story in the new issue of Foreign Policy, but a recent round of mockery of Internet-access initiatives by Google and Facebook seems both misguided and condescending toward the people the critics claim to be supporting.

[...]

I don’t want to trivialize the problems of malnutrition or malaria, or suggest that wealthy technology executives shouldn’t devote their considerable fortunes—as Gates has—to addressing these problems. But it doesn’t seem that ridiculous for these companies to also focus on what they already know how to do.

No, expanding Internet connectivity is not a Holy Grail, and no, it will not save the world. But it could get more people on the Internet, which is also a good thing. 

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