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Old 12-23-2010, 12:22 AM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
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It seems like pretty much everywhere is touched by modernity now, and probably every country has a place that feels 21st century, but what about in 1990, 1970 or 1950? Back then, was the world still far less Westernized and modernized? Or was it more modern than you would think?
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Old 12-23-2010, 01:02 AM
 
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I'd say large parts of the world are still similar to how they were 60 years ago, like countries like Mali or Bhutan, but large sections of the Third World have been plunged into modernity, like China and India. China has gone from Third to Second World. Things like mobile phones and satellites are making even remote areas modern.
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Old 12-25-2010, 10:32 PM
 
Location: Earth
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iPwn View Post
It seems like pretty much everywhere is touched by modernity now, and probably every country has a place that feels 21st century, but what about in 1990, 1970 or 1950? Back then, was the world still far less Westernized and modernized? Or was it more modern than you would think?
In 1990 there were more places that were less modernized than today. Central Europe just got over communism and hadn't yet westernized, for example.

In 1970, CONSIDERABLY more.

In 1950, larger by an exponential number. The world hadn't been "globalized" yet. Much of Europe and Asia was still in ruins from WW2. The Middle East was still largely living by its traditional ways, as was much of Latin America. The modern cities of Latin America were in their heyday or close to it. Colonialism was just ending. The US was on top of the world. The British Empire was entering its final phase with India, Pakistan, Israel, and Jordan newly independent. France was clinging to its empire in denial. It really was an entirely different world. 1970 itself seems quite far away now (people used to travel by bus from Europe to Afghanistan - something unimaginable today), but 1950 feels like an entirely different place.
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Old 12-26-2010, 04:00 AM
 
Location: the dairyland
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It was definitely less modern. But I think I wouldn't have any problems living in the US or Western Europe of the 70's. Everything we have today existed at that time already, probably even before.
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Old 12-26-2010, 06:06 PM
 
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Originally Posted by Rob702 View Post
It was definitely less modern. But I think I wouldn't have any problems living in the US or Western Europe of the 70's. Everything we have today existed at that time already, probably even before.
For the most part, I would agree, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that everything we have today existed at that time. Perhaps some of the things we have today existed in the '70s but were extremely rare.

Maybe only a few scientists, academics and military people had any concept in the 1970s of what the Internet would become in this century.

It wasn't until 1979 that I first saw a video cassette recorder, and my family didn't believe me when I told them about it. Now they're almost a memory.

You didn't hear people talking on cell phones in the 1970s. There were many more pay phones around. My son saw an old rotary phone a few years ago and had to be told how to dial it. My son would call the world of the 1970s--years before he was born--ancient, but I wouldn't. However, I would say that in some ways it was a very different place.
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Old 12-26-2010, 06:13 PM
 
Location: Earth
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Originally Posted by YtownGuy View Post
For the most part, I would agree, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that everything we have today existed at that time. Perhaps some of the things we have today existed in the '70s but were extremely rare.

Maybe only a few scientists, academics and military people had any concept in the 1970s of what the Internet would become in this century.

It wasn't until 1979 that I first saw a video cassette recorder, and my family didn't believe me when I told them about it. Now they're almost a memory.

You didn't hear people talking on cell phones in the 1970s. There were many more pay phones around. My son saw an old rotary phone a few years ago and had to be told how to dial it. My son would call the world of the 1970s--years before he was born--ancient, but I wouldn't. However, I would say that in some ways it was a very different place.
Yes.
The Internet would've been the stuff of science fiction.
I could adjust to living in the '70s fine, because I was a child during that time.
1950 would be a different story - I think I could adjust but I wouldn't have my life experiences to draw upon, just what I've read, heard, etc.
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Old 12-26-2010, 07:03 PM
 
Location: Victoria TX
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I was in Mexico and Central America for the first time in 1962, the Middle East in 1964, and traveled by land across west Africa in 1971. I think in some ways they have changed a lot, and in some ways not so much. There are internet cafes now, but not very many people using them. Cell phones are extremely common, because in some countries, they just skipped the landline generation. They went directly from no phone to cell phone. There were virtually no private cars in any of those places then. Still most people eating their traditional diet, and European style food can be found only in a few expensive shops, just as it was then. Fashions have changed, because most of the used clothing donated in America is resold in bales to sellers in the third world, who then sell it retail by setting a pallet on the street and snipping the bands, and letting the shoppers go at it. In Latin America, these clothes are called 'Ropa Americana'---American clothes. So now nearly everyone in the third world has abandoned their traditional dress for Disney T-shirts, sometimes with wildly inappropriate slogans on them which they can't read. But aside from cheap American clothes and cheap Chinese electronics and plastic goods, life hasn't changed all that much in the third world. Of course, for the growing middle class, the lifestlye more closely approaches that of the west. And private car traffic is becoming problematic, more so because of easy credit, rather than actual wealth.

In Mali, in 1971, most people had never been further from home than the nearest town, or the town they lived in. But the available public transportation was crowded. Only seven cities in Mali were electrified then, but running water was fairly universal in the cities---Africans bathe frequently. The "business district" in fairly large cities consisted of only about one block of structural buildings, and a large chaotic open-air marketplace. There were almost no paved roads, and travel was nearly impossible in the rainy season. It was nearly impossible to get any imported food outside the capital, and the available food was basic. Nearly everyone wore the traditional robes, but quite a few men wearing pants and shirts. Even thinking about a telephone was laughable, and literacy might have been 10% even in the cities. Schools were unaffordable. Many people suffered from visible afflictions. Some men still had scarred faces from cosmetic mutilation equivalent to tattoos, but that was no longer the practice. Everybody was at least bilingual, they could speak French and at least one tribal language, although in the rural countryside, not everyone spoke French. Building in Mali are all made of clay and brick, so hotels were enclosed, but glass windows were unheard of. Insects were not troublesome. A hotel was a square building with rooms with tolerable beds, and seemed reasonably clean. A few cities outside the capital might have had a hotel of a class above basic.

Last edited by jtur88; 12-26-2010 at 07:28 PM..
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Old 12-26-2010, 08:48 PM
 
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Now the fast city development. Difficult to find.
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Old 12-27-2010, 05:55 AM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by YtownGuy View Post
For the most part, I would agree, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that everything we have today existed at that time. Perhaps some of the things we have today existed in the '70s but were extremely rare.

Maybe only a few scientists, academics and military people had any concept in the 1970s of what the Internet would become in this century.

It wasn't until 1979 that I first saw a video cassette recorder, and my family didn't believe me when I told them about it. Now they're almost a memory.

You didn't hear people talking on cell phones in the 1970s. There were many more pay phones around. My son saw an old rotary phone a few years ago and had to be told how to dial it. My son would call the world of the 1970s--years before he was born--ancient, but I wouldn't. However, I would say that in some ways it was a very different place.
I would say it wasn't until 1985 that most of the stuff we have now existed.
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Old 12-27-2010, 10:14 AM
 
Location: The Ranch in Olam Haba
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The late 70's was the turning point. Once the first retail ready home computer came out, it signalled a large change in the direction of the world.
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