[rauljordan2020]

This is an incredibly impactful childhood. I'm from Honduras, a developing country where there is practically zero investment in science or the arts, and I was fortunate enough to also have gotten a similar book. One thing that struck me is how not a single person around me ever conceived of the things we use and consume on a daily basis as having been created by someone...another human being with our same physical faculties. I found all kinds of tech fascinating as something one could create, but my culture is too preoccupied with petty gossip of what others think and third world consumerism traps that prevent any kind of development. I felt like a fish out of water telling everyone about water and them not noticing it growing up over there

[derefr]

I wonder if this is why so many fantasy narratives lean on the trope of a long-dead precursor civilization which had greater knowledge and capabilities than our own. To most people, real historical innovators are in effect members of some mysterious and magical "precursor civilization", rather than "just people" they could identify with, or feel any kind of continuity with.

[mlinhares]

> but my culture is too preoccupied with petty gossip of what others think and third world consumerism traps that prevent any kind of development

Your culture is the outcome of colonization, dictatorships propped up by first world powers, and being ruled by the same families that came with the Spanish 500 years ago.

Might be worth it to also invest time in reading another book, like "Open Veins of Latin America", to understand the realities of what happened to Latin American countries in general, so you stop repeating stuff like that.

[rauljordan2020]

Extremely condescending to imagine that I have no knowledge of my own nation and region's history? I absolutely know and have extensive readings of how things came to be, and I have even lectured on the topic in my national university. Do you know more about Honduras than a native Honduran that has dedicated years to the topic? Have you liver there? I have my whole life. And yes, I still believe our culture is radically behind and we can no longer make excuses for it.

[mlinhares]

The “gossipy, lazy, no work ethic” culture of Latin America is a tale as old as time. Even the Portuguese and the Spanish used that, might want to change the tune a bit.

[rauljordan2020]

I never said the word lazy. Please explain to me your experience with the culture in central America in-depth and how people tend to think over there, if you wish to elucidate your points further. There are tons of broken elements of the culture of my country that are directly perpetuated by my people and are actively working against our development.

[Xirdus]

This kinda sounds like some middle ground between forced modernization of Eastern European countries (this isn't our tech but we could make it ourselves if we wanted to but we don't want to because it would be inferior) and the cargo cults of the Pacific islands (technology literally comes from the sky).

I kinda wish somebody made some study of how different ways societies acquire technology impacts the given society's making/tinkering culture. I wonder what patterns would emerge.

[ChuckMcM]

While difficult to control (as a study) it would probably be a solid basis for a PhD in anthropology or sociology. If you could compare two cultures, one which was exposed to the knowledge of how the technology came to be, and one which was simply allowed to buy the technology they wanted, over the next 30 - 50 years how does it change the group. If we ever were visited by extra-terrestrials this would probably be something they had already studied :-).