The author is probably implying that being somewhat developed makes it easier to continue developing even faster, like an exponential. I agree though - that poi

The author is probably implying that being somewhat developed makes it easier to continue developing even faster, like an exponential. I agree though - that point is rather clumsily made, and my reading of it requires some good will. The article goes downhill from there, and my good will ran out once I got to the "insight" that 99.99% of Muslims aren't terrorists, as if socio-political norms of tens of millions of Islamists aren't deeply problematic as long as they're not literally blowing themselves up. If you think I'm being hyperbolic, allow me to ruin your day by pointing to some unsettling polls: http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/ http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religi... Amongst the reassuring results from those surveys: 60% of all Egyptian Muslims think the punishment for leaving the faith ought to be death. 35% of all Indonesian Muslims think adulterers should be stoned. Of course there is a good point here that the article was trying to allude to: barbarism of this type is in some ways a self-fulfilling cultural prophecy. But one has to wonder how coy we really ought to be about the differences that exist in the here and now, especially considering these attitudes matter to the men and women living in those societies today.