[extropy-chat] Maximising Human Potential : Education :Toys

[Daniel Matthews]

Thanks for the ideas. The PDA idea is very cool ( I was thinking about 
solidstate MP3 audio books myself at one point) but I don't have 
$250,000,000. 

My question is not theoretical so I'll leave the PDA's etc. to Bill Gates and 
the urber rich. (Perhaps not Bill, he still needs to get Windows fixed before 
he lets himself get distracted by anything more profound. ;) )

Perhaps the lego/meccano approach is the way to go but the solution must be 
locally produced and patent free, then the idea will scale to millions of 
people and it is more a "good meme" than a handout of aid.

The materials and production processes MUST be low-tech and sustainable so 
plastics etc. may have to be replaced with things you can grow, such as wood.

The key is to create a "seed" idea  that will grow in a self sustained manner 
because the idea's merit is self evident to the majority of minds that become 
aware of it.

Imagine if you could apply all the annoying "viral" like human behaviours, 
such as pyramid selling, to an altruistic purpose and that purpose was to 
propagate ideas that were readily applicable in the third world and resulted 
in a significant benefit to the intellectual development of children.

There are two parts to this, the design/s for the toys/teaching aids and their 
manufacture and distribution, then there is the method by which the 
ideas/designs are propagated throughout the world.


> Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 16:56:01 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net>
>
> Solar-rechargable, long-range (satellite, preferably)
> PDA terminals that can connect to the Internet, with
> recorded instructions....
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 09:35:00 +0930
> From: "Emlyn ORegan" <Emlyn.Oregan at micromet.com.au>
> How about a simple construction set toy, ala Meccano? Stuff with gears
> and levers and so on that can be used to make simple machines? That kind
> of stuff lets you really explore construction-oriented thinking. Also, a
> decent engineer could probably design something really cheap to build
> out of plastic or metal. You might have an issue with patents in that
> area, so you'd want to do your research, but there must be a free space
> there somewhere.
>
> Emlyn
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 12 May 2004 10:16:00 -0400
> From: "Brian Lee" <brian_a_lee at hotmail.com>
> Subject: RE: [extropy-chat] Maximising Human Potential : Education :
> 	Toys
> To: extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> Message-ID: <BAY17-F28RZZyQ0VSUc0003e25f at hotmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
> I don't know if anyone has mentioned legos yet but I think they are pretty
> close to the ultimate edu toy. You can get cheap "Mega Bloks" or other lego
> knockoffs or just buy a bucket of legos for $5-10.
>
> They survive pretty much any conditions for years and years.
>
> For the 3 year olds you may want duplos which are basically giant legos
> that form animals and houses and stuff.
>