Shawn Fisher wrote:
Just because a country has the resources doesn't mean that it has the vision,
the political ability,
or cultural stability to achieve greatness...or even reliable running water and
electricity.
Kurt, the technology does not exist in a bubble somehow removed from all of the
above. I'm not arguing about Trav or GURPS tech level business.
I'm arguing against the ridiculous idea that knowledge _alone_ is enough to change societies. Geez,
look at the US and its nonsensical "policies" that exist entirely independent of TL. Sad
as it is, no amount of engineers and references libraries can make societies "pony up"
the means to reach new technologies. That requires PR, marketing, political investment, political
stability, an educated and motivated workforce, ample natural resources, etc. If so, TL must then
embody more than just material culture, eh?
Since we're living in a true "Learn by doing" environment, we really
don't know. Some societies, Somalia to use your example, just don't
have the stability to do anything but implode. Other countries,
Indonesia and Malaysia for example, have done nothing but expand, grow,
and develop over the last sixty years.
We have a lot of policies that border (and cross well over into) the
"beyond stupid" category. I won't dispute that. "New Technology" is a
combination of a lot of different things. Until the last century,
aluminum was difficult to produce. Then there was a discovery and it
became easy to make. The uses of aluminum had been known for some time,
but until it became commercially viable, it was more a curiosity than
something useful. Take that discovery back to 1700 and it's highly
likely that aluminum would have been used more often and some of the
routes of expansion would have been changed to locate sources of ore and
other raw materials necessary.
In the end, I think you're both right, just looking at things from
different points of view and without including the other's POV into the
equation.
Kurt
--
Kurt Feltenberger
[email protected]/[email protected] // http://www.teotwawki.net
“Before today, I was scared to live, after today, I'm scared I'm not living enough." - Me
"Write in your heart that every day is the best day of the year."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
_______________________________________________
GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]>
http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
