Talk:Nicholas Negroponte

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Tagged for Clean-up[edit]

This article needs to be cleaned up and vastly improved in my honest opinion. First of all Negroponte is extremely important as with regards to MIT medialab, his contributions to Wired Magazine, OLPC, and many other technology-related issues. It could also do well with an expansion, perhaps even a rewrite? At least I feel it has to be large enough to warrant a proper Table of Content... the--dud 19:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Misc[edit]

It's strange that there's no discussion about someone so important.

I find it so amazing that his brother is the Director of National Intelligence. What an amazing pair of brothers.

Criticism[edit]

He's not that highly regarded in the computer science community. The MIT Media lab has a reputation for generating superficial demos and not delivering on actual new inventions of any importance. They guy has poured huge resources into trying to make himself into a famous icon of the computer age, without having actually done that much.

Now that I would have to contend! Have a look a this youtube video of him speaking in 1984, where he demonstrates his idea for a "digital encyclopedia" where a user can read a top level explanation/passage/instruction, or click highlighted words, phrases or concepts to new "pages" in this "digital book" for greater depths of explanation. Sound familiar!? (hint: you're on one now) Seems like calling this an important concept we can all agree on ;)--Ptanham (talk) 10:38, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Already implanted and coded since at least 1980 by Tim Berner Lee himself. http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/book4/ch02.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.59.92.197 (talk) 04:38, 30 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Being Digital outdated?[edit]

The article states that Being Digital is outdated. This is not backed up by a reference or an argument. The same paragraph also does not reference any critical review of the book when it states that it was critized as "techno-utopian". The whole paragraph:

"Negroponte expanded many of the idea from his Wired columns into a bestselling book Being Digital (1995), which made famous his forecasts on how the interactive world, the entertainment world, and the information world eventually merge. Being Digital was a bestseller and was translated into some twenty languages. However, critics faulted his techno-utopian ideas for failing to consider the historical, political, and cultural realities with which new technologies should be viewed. In the years following the dot-com bust, the book began to be seen as outdated."

Maybe is was seen as outdated in 2003, but my feel is that right now "his forecasts on how the interactive world, the entertainment world, and the information world eventually merge" is seen very much spot on. Furthermore, the article on the book itself does not agree with the outdated claim. Without references I consider the claim to be Orginal Reseach and POV. I'll hold off removing it for few days to see if somebody will be able to back up the claim. Flambergius 14:17, 20 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Removed the line "In the years following the dot-com bust, the book began to be seen as outdated." for reasons stated above. Flambergius 13:54, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It is worth noting that NN has been criticized. I would put in the following but am not sure how to do footnotes so I leave for others if they agree: His philanthropic activities, including OLPC, have been criticized: "It’s a non-profit Trojan Horse for the market penetration of children’s minds." source: Caldwell, Edmond (2012). The Boston Occupier. October 24, 2012. Downloaded on October 27, 2012 from http://bostonoccupier.com/2012/10/24/read-the-fine-print-the-boston-book-festivals-creepy-corporate-sponsors/ Cratha (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 23:58, 27 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Homogenous Global Culture[edit]

Am I crazy for being horrified by the idea of MIT professors deciding that students in third world countries need $100 laptops? I'm starting to think so, considering that everyone else is certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that getting every libyan schoolchild on myspace and AOL is a great idea. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.125.233.221 (talk • contribs) 01:18, 3 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Bibles and Laptops, our answers to 3rd world poverty. How pathetic and self serving they both are. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by DonPMitchell (talk • contribs) 22:47, 5 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]


I may be wrong, but I believe the point is that access to the internet and the wealth of knowledge available on it allows children to reach resources they normally wouldn't be able to. To learn, to communicate with others around the world, etc. Access to education is a means of making a better life, which is what this laptop can provide if done properly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.111.224.140 (talk) 19:07, 26 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah because third world kids are fluent English speakers and can access the wealth of anglo saxon propaganda when they are not dying of malaria, malnutrition, or just plain thirst... It's natural then that whatever 3rd world kids have access to the net (such as some in nigeria) are actually getting all the good u.s. porn in them. Which of course geniuses such as Negreponte could have never predicted, because after all a horny foreign kid will go to the state senate library and read the founding fathers instead of going to some porn portal....85.73.85.33 (talk) 04:01, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

photo replacement?[edit]

I am replacing a 14 year old publicity photo with a photo taken from a speech in 2009. Dmrcambridge (talk) 20:59, 2 June 2009 (UTC) Photo may look better cropped.Dmrcambridge (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:05, 2 June 2009 (UTC).[reply]

External links[edit]

I just cleaned out the external links from this article as none of them complied with our guidelines for external links. There were quite a few reliable sources in there which can be used for article building so I've listed them here if any editor is interested in citing them as references for material in the article.

ThemFromSpace 21:31, 14 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Where's the criticism section?[edit]

For starters the olpc project which for many was seen nothing more than a failed self aggrandising debacle? There's tons of criticism on the olpc page, why not on this guys page too? Apparently instead of olpc spreading knowledge it has spread porn to the third world, what a brilliant vision... but of course once you violate the third world as much as the U.S. with types like negreponte has, you then try to save and educate them....but trust wikipedia to expurgate... 85.73.85.33 (talk) 03:53, 25 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Married[edit]

Negroponte married at 4 july 2012 in Patmos Island

Married[edit]

Negroponte married at 4 july 2012 in Patmos Island — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.129.223.207 (talk) 13:57, 5 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Relationship with Jeffery Epstein[edit]

The content from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614264/mit-media-lab-jeffrey-epstein-joi-ito-nicholas-negroponte-funding-sex-abuse/ should probably be integrated into this article somehow. C. Scott Ananian (talk) 07:09, 5 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

'Architect'?[edit]

Having a degree in architecture does not make one an architect. Is there any record of this guy having actually practiced architecture? If not, this characterization should be removed. Walkersam (talk) 17:21, 28 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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