Perhaps the Internet cafes and kiosks that are beginning to dot the Indian countryside may bring about the knitting together of rural communities that makes development initiatives readily understandable to the village person. I believe that technology can HELP alleviate poverty, but that we must go far beyond the simple application of technology in poor and rural areas to allay this phenomena. Simply providing people with technology will not be the full answer. People need to be trained in how to use this technology, and of course they need to be fed if they are to be able to learn. You cannot learn much on an empty stomach.
Poverty is as much about food as it is about money and education.
Technology can alleviate poverty only if the productivity gains resulting from it get passed along to employees in the form of higher wages, shorter working hours, improved benefits and the like. The trouble is, corporations historically have been reluctant to do this voluntarily. Most gains of this nature have been achieved through political organizing by workers, unionization, government mandates or, in some cases, violence. This is ironic because as living standards of a country improve, so do opportunities for profit. No fair distribution is possible without political change.