When I heard about this on NPR last week, it occured to me that a great number of people fail to understand the basic nature of a computer: it's a thought amplification tool. Just as a saw is a tool that improves the speed, efficiency, and precision that you can cut things with, a computer is a tool that allows you to augment your ability to think in a wide variety of ways. If you weren't raised by your elders (regardless of color) to place a high degree of value on thinking, no amount of free or subsidized access to computers and 'Net connectivity will make them usefull. We would be far better off spending the money on improving basic public education, focusing on thinking rather rote memorization.

We have reached the point in the evolution of the human race where its continued existence depends on our children being smarter than their parents. As simple proof, I offer the mere existence of a list of Environmental Protection Agency SuperFund sites.