Philip Greenspun reporting from the Digital Freedom Exposition in South Africa:

My personal view is that it is not the job of computer nerds to keep people free of disease. We build interesting Web sites and other services to make life interesting and worth living as long as the biologists and doctors are able to keep folks alive. Even if human life expectancy were reduced to 30 years, we shouldn’t abandon our keyboards and move into the medical labs since even a 30-year life can be significantly enriched with Google and Wikipedia.

He understands comparative advantage.

Another fun excerpt from the same post:

More than food, shelter, or other seeming essentials, they wanted Internet access, starting with an Internet cafe for women in the capital (under the Islamic regime, only men were allowed to visit Internet cafes).

Double whammy on those who complain that others who attempt to bring technology to the poor should focus on basic needs first.