> I do wonder if the West will be criticized in 50 years for its intellectual draining of the third world, not unlike the West's draining of colonies' natural r

> I do wonder if the West will be criticized in 50 years for its intellectual draining of the third world, not unlike the West's draining of colonies' natural resources 50 or 100 or more years ago I do not think these are equivalent at all. When the Westerners drained the colonies of natural resources, the ones who were colonized got no benefit from that whatsoever. That was pure exploitation. (It will be very interesting indeed if you argue otherwise.) However, when educated immigrants from under-developed nations are hired in a developed country, the immigrants can 1) have a much better quality of life; 2) send money back home to their families; 3) can use what they learn to go back to their home countries and start businesses there (if they so choose). Thus, the immigrants, and their countries of origin, are being helped. Most people from the third world will tell you the same. But (hopefully) no one is going to say that the Scramble for Africa was a good thing. And I doubt that the Africans thought it was good thing when it was going on. But going back to the argument you're making -- "people have various ideas floating around in their heads. They remember outsourcing, where American programmers ended up with no power and no money. This didn't do much for the prestige of the career. They think of nerds, obviously, who aren't too great on social norms." Hmm, maybe. But this [1] article argues, with some interesting charts, that interest in CS education is increasing. The Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the UW argues that "Kids are waking up. Every field is becoming an information field, and if you can program at a level beyond an intro course, it’s a huge value to you." The CS department chair at Harvey Mudd College says "Students feel that computing is socially relevant and even hip." [1] http://www.geekwire.com/2014/analysis-examining-computer-science-education-explosion/ http://www.geekwire.com/2014/analysis-examining-computer-sci...