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You can’t look at those numbers without comparing to other societies. Raising literacy over that time period….is not especially rare? Nor was industrialization

by graeme 5y ago

You can’t look at those numbers without comparing to other societies. Raising literacy over that time period….is not especially rare? Nor was industrialization. You’re giving them credit for something basically every european country did in that timeframe. And many other countries besides. Not strictly saying you’re wrong. I haven’t done the comparative argument so it’s possible they did have a comparative advantage on either front. But you’d need to compare to other countries to have a meaningful claim.

soperj 5y ago
Most european countries were already industrialized by the 1920s. None of them had literacy rates that low, and not one of them made it to space.
- graeme 5y ago
  What about comparable countries then? Russia looks pretty similar to other country trends here: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cross-country-literacy-rates https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cross-country-literacy-ra... In particular try Italy and Spain, countries with many peasants circa 1900. Virtually identical trajectories. The USSR, if around today, would have a population of 300 million. They were a superpower. Only large powers made it to space. It was certainly impressive, but also a natural result if you have a large portion of your economy devoted to military spending and missile research. The space program in both USA and USSR allowed for ICBM delivery of nuclear warheads, a crucial strategic goal.
  - soperj 5y ago
    They became a super power. The certainly weren't after WW1. Why didn't the Ottoman empire do this?
- krzyk 5y ago
  Not that impressive if you consider population and vast, really vast amounts of land that have gigantic natural resources and lack of any real power blocking them from the east. Basically with that base anyone could do it (I don't dispute that having a gun pointed at your and your family head wasn't mobilizing for scientists, but that's normal for authoritarian states).
  - soperj 5y ago
    Why hasn't India then?

by graeme 5y ago

soperj 5y ago

Most european countries were already industrialized by the 1920s. None of them had literacy rates that low, and not one of them made it to space.

graeme 5y ago
What about comparable countries then? Russia looks pretty similar to other country trends here: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cross-country-literacy-rates https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cross-country-literacy-ra... In particular try Italy and Spain, countries with many peasants circa 1900. Virtually identical trajectories. The USSR, if around today, would have a population of 300 million. They were a superpower. Only large powers made it to space. It was certainly impressive, but also a natural result if you have a large portion of your economy devoted to military spending and missile research. The space program in both USA and USSR allowed for ICBM delivery of nuclear warheads, a crucial strategic goal.
- soperj 5y ago
  They became a super power. The certainly weren't after WW1. Why didn't the Ottoman empire do this?
krzyk 5y ago
Not that impressive if you consider population and vast, really vast amounts of land that have gigantic natural resources and lack of any real power blocking them from the east. Basically with that base anyone could do it (I don't dispute that having a gun pointed at your and your family head wasn't mobilizing for scientists, but that's normal for authoritarian states).
- soperj 5y ago
  Why hasn't India then?