Give Them a Fish or Teach ’em To Fish?

Dvorak asks this about One Laptop Per Child:

“Does anyone but me see the OLPC XO-1 as an insulting ‘let them eat cake’ sort of message to the world’s poor?”

I can see his point, but I don’t see how decades of giving food and support to the 3rd world has helped them to become part of the 1st world. Maybe access to the world’s information so that they can educate themselves and learn how to solve their own problems might work a little better. It’s worth a try at least.