Jon maddog Hall wrote:
...
I am currently reading a book called "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail
or Succeed" by Jared Diamond which shows how even some "isolated" societies
collapsed when they did not take into account the "global" picture. The way
of stopping illegal immigrants and to increase the number of US exports bought
by other economies is to increase the buying power and standard of living
of those other economies. Hard? Yes. Impossible? No. Ireland, Lichtenstein,
and Malaysia are all examples of countries that have turned themselves from
some of the poorest economies of the world to some of the strongest in less than
twenty years.
What is happening in East Timor right now is exactly what happened to some
of the not-so ancient civilizations. The desperate plight of the needy
overruns the ability of government to keep order.
That presupposes, of course, that the government has an interest in
doing what's best for its people. Many times more than not it is the
governments that gets in the way of progress. I would imagine quite a
few of these governments in the so-called "3rd world" may actually fear
its people becoming smarter and brighter and better educated. And this
is not limited, of course, to the "3rd world" as we very well know.
One of my favorite cartoons of all time was in Walt Kelly's Pogo, when the title
character was rowing a boat through the swamp they lived in and he said "We
have met the enemy, and he is us."
In today's world there is no "we" and "them", there is only "us".
Regards,
maddog
I might even put it at a more individual level and say "the enemy is I".
Technology without a comprehensive plan and realistic goals is just a
waste of time. And I grow very skeptical when there seems to be more
emphasis on technology than a realistic plan. We see this all the time
in our own public school system, over and over again, and no one seems
to learn from the failures and mistakes of the past. There is a reason
why my kids are currently being homeschooled. Nothing much has *really*
changed since we ourselves were in grade school, and if anything, it's
gotten worse.
It's a cheap trick to just push technology and cross one's fingers that
it will "magically" solve all the problems. Computers have been pushed
into the US public school system, for example, and yet US schools still
languish way behind the rest of the world. Furthermore, it was done at
the expense of some other programs, such as art and music in some
regions. And yet I'd say it is art and literature that defines who we
are as a culture and a people. Meanwhile teachers still struggle to use
and understand the technology -- typically the students themselves are
much more savvy. What is wrong with this picture? If the student is
smarter than the teacher, then what's the point?
And we are a "rich" nation. Hmmm....
Actually, despite my cynicism, I do see a potential that the so-called
"3rd world" will better master the new technology that us "rich"
countries do. As long as the individuals are free enough to explore the
technology and it doesn't become mired in bureaucracy, there are
possibilities.
*I recently bought off the net a USB flash drive that holds 2 GB for $40.
after rebate. My Brazilian friend told me that *IF* he could buy it in Brazil,
it would cost the equivalent of between 200-300 USD.
When I visited Belize a few years back, high-speed Internet access at
the levels we now enjoy with Cable, DSL, and now Fios, was dreadfully
expensive. We're talking $15000 BZE ($7500 USD) per *month* for a T1.
This was back around 2000. The picture may be different now, but still.
At the time Belize Telecom held a tight monopoly on *all* communication
including the Internet. You were not even allowed to do satellite for
linking to the Internet, believe it or not. The Belizian government
allowed BTL to hold this monopoly for whatever the reason. Not quite as
bad as the Bechtel water monopoly in Bolivia which let to the Bolivian
Water War back in 2000, but still. Same company that Bush chose to help
rebuild the infrastructure in Iraq. Hmmmm...
Get the governments out of the way and the people will do OK.
-Fred
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