

Inventor's 2020 vision: to help 1bn of the world's poorest see better - swombat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/dec/22/diy-adjustable-glasses-josh-silver

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swombat
Josh Silver was one of my tutors at university (a very smart, friendly,
approachable professor).

He has indeed been pursuing this idea for a good while, quite passionately.
This is one case where entrepreneurship in the western world can really help
poorer countries, imho.

It's also a good example that it can take a lot of perseverance and more than
just cool technology to make things happen on a large scale like this. The
science to make these glasses was already pretty much done 10 years ago when I
did my degree, but unfortunately it's still not widely distributed to the
people who need it most.

I know there are many people on this site who are looking for interesting,
socially constructive projects to back - this is certainly one of them.

~~~
robertk
I agree, great example of overcoming throwing sheep.

<http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10045321-36.html>

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steveblgh
In many countries it is already common practice that poor people buy glasses
on the market without any prescription. They try on several different lenses
and buy the one that seems most suitable. In essence that's what the doctor
does as well.

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puzzle-out
I'm so glad the article didn't end up taking a 'social enterprise' angle.
Silver was doing his stuff a long time before the concept was given a title,
and hence got diluted with PR nonsense and consultancy management speak.

