Today I learned about the Global Learning X Prize, through Google news feed story about Elon Musk's contribution to it. (http://www.iflscience.com/technology/the-elon-musk-project-youve-never-heard-of-that-might-change-the-world/)
This is a testament to the big-picture issue that is human development and the unnecessary inequality faced in the world today.
The gist of this project is to provide solutions to the structural barriers that exist in some poor countries with respect to eduction. Namely, the absence of accessible effective schooling for the poor.
There are two ways to look at this issue. The optimistic way is to see this limitation in human potential simply as a logistical issue: there is insufficient infrastructure, money, political will, etc. to meet the needs of the population. In this regard, 'disrupting' eduction and empowering poor families and their children to learn independently of a government schooling system, aims to impart the knowledge and skills that will give children access to the new and emerging information economy. In theory this helps lift them out of poverty and contributes to the growth of the country in general.
The technological revolution that we have seen since the advent of digital computing, including its accelerating pace of improvement, has enabled a de facto over-abundance in goods and services. Through automation and innovation, the costs of production have continued to trend lower. There is no physical or economic reason for people in the world to be starving today when we dispose of food through either careless or willful waste. Of course you will always have the 'exclusive' toys and badges that can only be afforded by a few, but this 'signal' will hopefully lose its lustre for more meaningful signals - such as those put out by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
In this optimistic view, once we open everyone's eyes to the wonders of science, technology, and rational problem solving, those trapped in abject poverty will naturally emerge from it. They will learn how to code, how to organize materials, how to analyze data for use in strategic decisions...they will be aware of the possible, and of the fact that human misery today is largely a product of mismanagement. All else being equal, this will have immediate benefits to the poor and the illiterate who missed out on formal education. One can imagine village elders as well as children, huddled around knowledge sources - presumably connected to the Internet, and certain specialists of the community gladly answering questions from the interested. This is reminiscent of human communities in eras lone gone by, huddled around a fire sharing stories, gazing upon the sky and contemplating the world.
If the Global Learning X Prize facilitates this rekindling of human community forged around the natural desire to wonder and learn, then we are in good shape and I congratulate the 12 finalists for getting this far.
The alternate assessment of the human condition with respect to poverty is less optimistic, and may indeed demonstrate less obvious challenge.
It's a given that you can't stop knowledge from spreading - ideas and information have spread globally well before the digital age. The abject poverty in the few miles beyond the centres of power is likely more structural than resulting from lack of knowledge. In fact, many of these poor people have been hammered with 'knowledge' to keep them in a certain place. A classic example would be the perpetual cultural signals that reinforce India's caste system (or that of many other countries). The official legal order has no place for discrimination based on caste or class, however there are informal, 'cultural' norms signalling one's place in the pecking order. This is the case everywhere - and in the developing world, image is meticulously polished and nurtured by celebrities and politicians. The difference being that in the developed world, there exists a social contract that includes a minimal standard of human development (even at times for those marginalized).
With this view, one needs to acknowledge that there are actual tensions and competitive traits within human society, and it is not a given that simply decentralizing the conduits of knowledge, and broadcasting it out to the population will lead to improved conditions. The ruling elites will need to be engaged in accepting and actively altering any cultural barriers to progress. Informing masses of people of what they are missing out on without actually also enabling them to realize their potential, is a recipe for social conflict.
Sometimes these unequal attitudes are within families themselves, think of the women and girls in some parts of the world. Again, the barriers to them learning are much more than logistical or even legal.
From wikipedia: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzania#Poverty) we can see that 68 percent of Tanzania's population is below the poverty line. A cursory read of the political history clearly identifies that power structures in this region were not conducive to wider distribution of the nation's wealth. Widening the circle of knowledge within such a context does not necessarily serve the all of the various community and political interests.
As such, we are placing hope on a future 'start-up' generation bypassing the vestiges of concentrated power structures formed before and further entrenched by colonizations. Political and economic elites need to play a role in promoting growth of decentralized economic activity. There must be no fear of potential nationalization / government intervention should some of that economic activity turns out to be fantastically successful (and appealing for control). The model of government as a facilitator of growth and development (rather than an obstacle) cannot be taken for granted, and should be included in the post X Prize assessments on progress.
We will see the impacts of this Edu-Tech in action. The country is a great test case and can benefit greatly from an injection of new entrepreneurial energy. Tanzania has obvious great wealth in terms of natural resources, it can now serve to highlight the renewed importance of the human resources of creativity and innovation.