Re: High Tech/New Tech

[angevin@juno.com (Joseph P Benedetto)]

> Here's some food for thought about "civilized" Japan.  In 1871 the 
>Samurai lost the right to carry two swords(this is a euphemism to their
>right to arbitrarily behead any commoner).  Around this time equality
>before the law was also introduced.  The major reason for reason for
>Japan's "Westernization" was their fear of being subjugated by the
>Europeans and Americans. 
>    My point is that given enough motivation and modicum of preserved
>knowledge the former third world countries could bring themselves >back
to early twentieth century technology within a reasonable amount >of
time(say twenty-five years).

I am not so sure.  The medieval Japanese achieved modernization as a 20th
Century power in one man's lifetime, yes, but at the cost of "selling
out" to the foreign powers, buying what Japanese needed to modernize
directly form the modern powers, including the knowledge in the form of
living, breathing *gaijin* who came to Japan and taught the backwards
Japanese how the West did things.  They did NOT decide to suddenly pick
up and develop as a modern, industrialized nation--they borrowed heavily
on the existing infrastructure and knowledge of foreigners.

As to the third world countries picking themselves up by their bootstraps
and returning to a barely-industrialized status, maybe--maybe not.  How
dependant are they on outside aid?  Food deliveries?  Medical and
technical assistance?  On importing raw materials?  While it is possible
Peru will come out all right, it is also possible that Peru will suffer
internal civil war and in 20 years of fighting be reduced to a level not
much better than the Spanish and the Incas of the 1500's.

Joe
angevin@juno.com