Re: Uglossia and Utopia

Nik Taylor wrote:

> FFlores wrote:
> > That's a bit harsh, you know... I don't have so much idle time
> > in my hands (though I'd use it for conlanging if I had it),
> > and I'm certainly not rich.
>
> Well, compared to much of the non-Western world we are!  All of us here
> have computers, which is a lot more than many people can say.
That was the point I was trying to get at:  it is only a slight
exaggeration to
say that the average American today, in the middle class, lives like
the aristocracy of old:  material goods are as near, in most cases,
as the nearest outlet for selling them.  In Europe, much the same
case also holds true.

Compare that with India, say:  there you have about only one computer
for ever one or two thousand people, depending on what you call
a "computer".  That's a startling difference.  (I don't have a
corresponding
figure for the US, but there's about one internet host for every 100
people in the US and Canada, which is saying a lot.)

=======================================================
Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Denn wo Begriffe fehlen,
Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein.
   -- Mephistopheles, in Goethe's _Faust_
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