For me the big new change happened in about the 90's,
when we started considering ourselves as primarily living in The Economy - not a Society.

These days it seems, the economy has primacy and the expectation is that everything will just fall into place under that.
But it doesn't.

Sure, you might want to work inside Coca Cola Corp (for example) for eight hours a day. Or to have shares in the biz to support your economic well being.
But you don't want to live your whole life inside Coca Cola Corp, or design your life on that model - just because it is super efficient and successful.
And you can be dammed sure your social, natural, emotional, intellectual, recreational, family, etc issues will certainly not be given primacy over the "efficiency" of the biz.
A bit like the modern world today.

But a bit too late to change all that now, the die is cast - except maybe for yourself and your family.
Move out of the Coca Cola factory and smell the roses a bit more. Or out of the big city rat race.
But it's hard to escape the smart phone life these days - you gotta be really dedicated to the sweet scents of life to do that.
(And really fear the factors that Freightdog outlines above ^^^)

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:40 pm we started considering ourselves as primarily living in The Economy - not a Society.

exactly
it's the stupid economy
became 'it's the economy, stupid'

Without reliable electricity there will only be no-tech. A vision of a city with electrical or hybrid cars will be a fantasy until this basic is a reality. The cost of electricity is another hamstring.

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:21 pm i think everyone is safe
Better chance of walking on water than Cambodia becoming a high tech country where most likely 30% of the population cant read or write their own language

Is illiteracy really that high? I heard the literacy rate was close to 85% for males and around 75% for females.

fazur wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:29 pm

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:21 pm i think everyone is safe
Better chance of walking on water than Cambodia becoming a high tech country where most likely 30% of the population cant read or write their own language

Is illiteracy really that high? I heard the literacy rate was close to 85% for males and around 75% for females.

Those figures sound familiar, but as the school attendance rates. (from vague memory)
But maybe they are counted as the same thing. ??

My wife had most of her schooling under the Khmer rouge, and then a couple of years after that - in the countryside with no trained teachers. She still has a pretty high state of literacy, and a working two extra languages. Taken to tech much better than me.

fazur wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:29 pm

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:21 pm i think everyone is safe
Better chance of walking on water than Cambodia becoming a high tech country where most likely 30% of the population cant read or write their own language

Is illiteracy really that high? I heard the literacy rate was close to 85% for males and around 75% for females.

For adults (above 15 years old) the rate is around 80%. Richard's figure is about 20 years out of date.

https://knoema.com/atlas/Cambodia/topic ... eracy-rate

I really wonder what made @phuketrichard, who loves Thailand, so much so hateful of Cambodia.

Sorry PR, actually your anti-Cambodia posts do keep a level of awareness going for those at the other end of the spectrum who are perhaps dangerously in love with Cambodia to the point of blindness; keep 'em coming!

There wasn't a great education system during the wars. Many elderly Americans are barely literate too.