[Traveller_TNE] Re: Low Tech Stuff

>Earth couldn't do it because we're truly alone. However, the
>United States, United Nations, etc are always going to some
> Third World country with high-tech and durable gear that
> will filter water, etc. I can imagine a MegaCorp in
> Traveller that specialises in 'helping' the lower
> tech Brothers climb up the tech ladder.

I disagree. Sure, a nearby Megacorp *could* choose to help a lower tech
world by giving them a TL12 fusion plant, but they won't - for exactly
the same reason that the US, UN and EU haven't started building
desalination plants in Mozabique and Kenya. Those countries can't afford
it, and no rich country is prepared to make charity on that level.

I'm not sure what you mean that the US and UN are always going to some
Third World country with high-tech, unless you mean the stuff that
armies or corps take with them for their own use. There are a couple of
charity organisations who have developed Appropriate Technology items
for third world countries, but they're all on the level of stoves, well
pumps and stuff like that. The economics just don't support passing high
tech to low tech countries; development is a long process that requires
infrastructure buildup. (Also, as outlined in the TNE World Tamer's
Handbook, even with investment, it takes time and people - both valuable
resources.)

That leads me on to India. Yes, India may well have guys repairing
satphones in the street, next to ox-drawn carts, but India is not a
low-tech country. It's a very high tech country with, importantly, a
huge economy. They have a space programme, nuclear weapons, submarines
and an enormous IT sector. The fact that they also have an impoverished
sector of the population who can't afford access to this tech doesn't
change that. They're a high tech nation - just not a monolithic one.
Largely, I suspect, this is because of the pace of their development -
their infrastructure development has lagged behind their technological
and economic achievements.

I used to think the Trav model made no sense - that you could have low
tech worlds next to high tech ones - but I've come to change my mind.
Low tech worlds will stay low tech because they can't afford high tech.
Or because they once were high tech but their economy has collapsed. Of
course, one has to bear in mind the difference between Trav and
historical development - a low tech society in Trav knows that fusion
power is possible, and may know the theory. It's not about what you've
figured out how to do, it's about what you can afford the infrastructure
to support doing.

I think when it boils down to it, a GM will always be able to invent a
reason why it's in a high-tech world's interest to bootstrap a nearby
low-tech world, but equally it shouldn't take much effort to come up
with an explanation as to why they don't. And so long as that's true,
the model can make sense.

Nick