If I was drinking coffee while reading ST Interactive this morning, I would have spewed it all over my monitor and keyboard.
S’pore ready to become a top First World nation: MM
ST 24 Feb 2007 | Peh Shing Huei & Sue-Ann ChiaTHE architect of Singapore’s move from Third World to the First believes the country is ready for the next step up.
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said last night that Singapore can move from the lower half of the First World to the top half in the next 10 to 20 years….
But Singapore’s transformation would not be possible without economic growth. To do so, Singapore needs to attract investments, and keep corporate and personal taxes low.
And Singaporeans must welcome foreigners here, as they are the ‘extra megabytes’ and Singaporeans, the ‘hard disk’.
First things first: ‘First World’ is antiquated – and tenuous – terminology. It is Cold War era lexicon that never quite made sense then, and definitely doesn’t make sense now.
Generally, First World countries refers to capitalist democracies. The implication is that these nations are ‘developed’. Hence, First World . The term that you hardly ever hear, Second World, refers to command (economies) communist states. Following this definition, two countries in the world qualify: North Korea and Cuba. And Third World, refers (broadly and inaccurately) to ‘developing nations’, presumably all the countries who aren’t democratic or communist.
From definitions, we move on to analogies.
Gahmen speeches are full of them, and usually they are used to good effect.
However, the hard disk analogy is off the mark.
A hard disk is an important part of the computer, but it is just storage space.
Are we receptacles to be filled? Is this an inadvertent reflection of our education system? Who is the CPU ?
In any case, I suppose it’s a step up from being a cog in the clockwork.
Have a good weekend, fellow megabytes.
Ivan Chew
/ Sunday, 25 February 2007Hi Kenneth, re: the “First World” terminology, I found that it’s still very much in use by people in other countries. For instance, when I went to South Africa to conduct blog training, a South African told me that he considered South Africa to be “3rd World” and Singapore as “First”.
acroamatic
/ Monday, 26 February 2007Be that as it may, I think it shouldn’t be used. It’s outmoded. It’s very loosely defined.
I suppose it’s a convenient shorthand for saying “developing nation”.
Lam Chun See
/ Tuesday, 27 February 2007off-topic. I think first pc I used, TRS80 and Apple II didn’t have hdd?
acroamatic
/ Tuesday, 27 February 2007Wah, Chun See, that really is off-topic! I looked in Wikipedia, TRS80 used cassette tape. Apple II, not so sure.
acroamatic
/ Tuesday, 27 February 2007Oh, just saw this in my feeds: Classic Commercials: Tandy TRS-80
Lam Chun See
/ Thursday, 1 March 2007This one I remember. Apple II using 51/4 in floppy disks. They had their own version of Basic programming language called Applesoft.
Kevin
/ Friday, 6 April 2007Kenneth, I’ve been spewing coffee and tea like the possessed chick in exorcist whenever every I read the Strait Times. The worst is Coke since it tends to shoot up your nose. Being a carbonated drink, it hurts your nasal passages a little. The best thing to drink while reading ST is milk… it spews out the most beautiful. Your mates would be wondering if you’re doing so form of perfomance art (like MTV’s Jackass), but you can safely tell them you’re reading the ST, then they’ll understand in sympathy.
steelwool
/ Tuesday, 1 May 2007Oops! the garmen did it again, this time Hard Disk Singapore can be upgraded with foreign megabytes.
acroamatic
/ Wednesday, 2 May 2007May Day Rally, eh? Wasn’t watching and haven’t read the coverage yet.