What happens when a billion people get computers? | Matt Dalio & Jimmy Calí | TEDxUFM

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

Matt Dalio explains how giving access to computers can change the life of billions. He presents on stage, a proof and his Hero, Jimmy Calí, a 12 years old kid who learned to speak English in eight months using his computer.

So in a world where everyone
buzz about smartphones and tablets,

I'm here to tell you about
how we are building desktop computers.

"Why desktop computers?"
everyone always asks.

The answer is because you cannot enter
the knowledge economy

without being able to write a CV,

to do a school research report,
to do a budget.

To enter the modern economy,
you must have computing literacy.

Four and a half billion people
do not have access to that.

Four and a half billion people.

What's so incredible is that its actually
not that hard to solve it.

What does that mean?

How do four and a half
billion people not have it,

and it's not that hard to solve it?

The answer comes in the form
of technology that people already have,

everyone already has a television,
that's a monitor.

and attached to those televisions
are set-top boxes, cable boxes,

satellite TV boxes,

and that little box
is where the magic takes place.

If you take an iBook from the year 2000,

your average set-top box today
has four times the storage

and 60 times the RAM
as an iBook in the year 2000.

It is a computer.

So, why is it that all these computers,
monitors, set-top boxes as CPUs

are not actually computers?

And the answer
is actually really simple: software.

We spent about a year
trying to take existing solutions

and put it on set-top boxes
and make that happen.

After a year,
we threw it all away, gave up

and spent the subsequent three years
building that from scratch ourselves.

A desktop operating system
that is simple enough

that it doesn't require training,
it doesn't get viruses,

that runs on this cheap processors
making a computer cheaper than a tablet

and most importantly, that is
built for users in emerging markets,

because people in emerging markets
not only can’t afford computers

they can’t afford access to fundamentals

like education, health, and livelihood.

So, a computer can be an answer to that.

I'm supposed to get on stage
and tell you stories about the seamstress

that can now have access
to shopping from microfinance loans

and the farmer who can figure out

what to plant, when to irrigate,
and where to sell.

But in the audience tonight,
I actually found a new hero of mine.

He is a little 12 year old boy,

who eight months ago
couldn't speak English

and decided to teach himself English
through his computer

and I'd like to have you meet him.

Jimmy please welcome you on stage.

(Applause)

Jimmy Calí: Hello!

Matt Dalio: Tell me about yourself Jimmy.

JC: Hi everybody, my name is Jimmy,
I'm 12 years old,

and I really like to play videogames
and read books.

MD: So, how did you learn English?

I learned English by practicing,
reading and listening.

I already ended the program
Duolingo, I practiced in videos,

Skype, and writing on Whatsapp.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

So he was having a fluent conversation,
I speak Spanish,

and the conversation was easier
to had in English that it was in Spanish

because his conversational
English is so good.

Tell me, how much English
did you know eight months ago?

JC: I [started] learning
eight months ago, in March last year.

MD: How much did you know
eight months ago?

LC: Nothing.

(Laughter)

MD: You were saying something
about programming?

JC: Yes I am learning programming
in Khan Academy.

MD: Programing? Tell me,
what sort of programming?

JC: Animation. I really like it,

it's very hard, but I like it,
and I always practice it.

MD: My new hero.

(Applause)

There are a billion Jimmies
about to get technology.

It's incredible what we are
about to see as human kind.

The reason I'm on this stage is to make
a call to the entrepreneurs of the world.

The this of that, the Uber of X
has been done before.

Meanwhile, emerging markets have
so many needs and so many opportunities.

WhatsApp sold for 19 billion dollars,

the largest startup
acquisition in history.

Why?

Because it gave the power of communication
to 450 million emerging market users.

M-Pesa is a mobile payments platform

that currently runs 31%
of Kenya's GDP through it.

The opportunities of our era
exist here, in Guatemala,

and emerging
market countries just like it,

and this child right here
is testament to what that means.

(Laughter)

Thank you all. Jimmy, you are a hero.

JC: Thank you very much.

(Applause)