Quote from: Anonymous on July 22, 2010, 01:12:39 AM

The bigger issue is that a poor farmer in India may not have the resources to even buy a computer .It is imperative that bitcoin can be used on cheap mobile phones so as to allow access to disadvantaged people,with sms and other systems.Rich countries will probably generate all the coins and bear the cost of supporting the bitcoin system.A person without a computer will be able to transact without paying exorbitant fees and taxes that parasitic bankers and governments extract.These overheads reduce costs of trade dramatically with the savings passed on to cheaper products.

Along those lines what if the bitcoin client had a charity button built in?.People could then donate bitcoins to charities such as the one laptop per child program http://laptop.org/en/ or the kiva microfinance program http://www.kiva.org/ which lets you micro loan to third world businesses .This would help poorer people access the bitcoin economy.

I have some huge problems with the "one laptop per child" program, primarily because of the paternalistic attitude that its participants have and the fact that they have openly turned down funds from some sources and offers simply because of the nature of those funds. It is starting to get off-topic here, but for me I think it is far and away much better to simply build a robust and cheap computer that anybody could buy, and if a few happen to land in Beverly Hills, Park Avenue, or Hyde Park along the way, so much the better for the rest of the world.

In spite of suggestions that Moore's law is going to somehow stop, I have yet to see an end in sight for continued miniaturization of computers and more computing power for ever cheaper devices. I certainly think that a poor farmer in India is much more able to buy a computer now than they were back when I was just a little child. Heck, back then only very large banks and major research universities were able to afford a computer, and usually it was just one or two computers for a major organization. I remember taking a tour inside of the "school district's computer" back when I was in Kindergarten... and that was a huge deal back then. That computer was also state-of-the-art and something the district was very proud of.

A small portable computing device capable of holding a Bitcoin wallet, displaying a current balance, and being able to connect temporarily to a network for engaging in monetary transfers could be built for under $10 USD right now. If you want, I could even specify most of the parts and with a little help actually make such a device. While $10 USD might be a month's wage in some parts of the world, it is still within the realm of possibility here and is certainly doable. In the mean time, paper currencies of many kinds also exist, and we should be worrying about early adopters right now before having to stress over people that would likely be nearly the last people in the world to need Bitcoins. Also, what does that have to do with Greece anyway?