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"developing country" is a term used in economic discourse to mean something rather specific -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country https://en.wikip
by spyckie2 8y ago
"developing country" is a term used in economic discourse to mean something rather specific -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developing_country. It has pretty specific criteria what qualifies, and America (the richest country in the world) does not.
- james_s_tayler 8y agoYes. And I think it's dumb. The article linked to states it in alternative words "low and middle income country LMIC". I think that's an order of magnitude better. I know I'm nitpicking and being an asshole about this point, but I think words matter. How we talk about things feeds in to how we conceptualize things and our mental models are like low quality, compressed, cartoon versions of reality and getting them more accurate at a fundamental level goes a long way towards improving the end results of our cognition. It also used to be called First World, Second World, Third World. It's not anymore. Discourse changes because people stop agreeing on terms being useful, accurate, or good. I liked Hans Rosling's level 1,2,3,4 stratified model a little better.
- spyckie2 8y agoCommunication is nuanced, not my fault that words have a commonly accepted definition even if it has unexpected connotations attached. Understand the frustration though.