$10 laptops in India

Well, I guess this is all nice and good, but it does illustrate an interesting point. So much of the world’s problems are being addressed through technology. And that’s fine, but it can’t be the whole solution to any of these problems; technology is merely a tool, a means by which to achieve and end in concert with many other tools or means.

Real development requires social reform as well as tech reform. The vast transformations many countries are going through in their growth pain transitions to first-world industrial economies are espousing tech and industry exclusively, at the expense of social reform. This will provide a very imbalanced culture (similar in many ways to the worst aspects of western culture) where all the emphasis is on high-tech and little emphasis is placed on artisans, service sector work, or basically any career that doesn’t have a high computer-use quotient.

Now I’m not sure what the best way to bring about this balance is; lords knows we haven’t achieved it perfectly in the US, either. But we’re better off than most. A handful of European countries have done well with it, but those same countries are so rabidly homogeneous and static that they have essentially a unified populace. This makes change much easier and the issue of social collision much less important.

Perhaps some cultures are strong enough to resist the gaping maw of empty Western glitz, in which case they will somehow integrate the Western tech into their traditional society. But somehow, I just don’t see that happening a whole lot. Hong Kong is a perfect example, which is an empty shell of its Chinese cultural predecessors, and ends up being a disturbing bastardization of Chinese culture and western greed. Very bizarre.

But here’s to hoping…