That mode of life is not sustainable today, when better alternatives are available. But moving to those alternatives requires massive modernization - basically building a modern industrial society. One cannot do it with sticks and hoes and subsistence farmers with no marketable skills. One needs investments in fixed capital that will sustain modern industry, and one needs to transform subsistence farmers to the urban/industrial working class. And that requires sacrificing subsistence farming and those who practice it. It is not pretty, it carries heavy social and economic cost and even cost human lives, but there is no way around it.
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No doubt, this statement will attract a lot of heat and righteous indignation but I think it's worth pursuing further.
In the past -- when states such as S. Korea were rapidly industrializing -- the path to modernization seemed clear: develop your supporting infrastructure, nurture basic industry, export to accumulate capital and technical expertise, build a progressively more sophisticated domestic consumer base, etc.
Today, with environmental, energy and general technosphere sustainability questions vexing us, and our survival as a technically adept species somewhat in doubt over the long haul, things have become clouded.
If you were given Stalin-esque authority over one of the impoverished, underdeveloped African countries you visit every year or so, what steps would you take to improve things...to spur modernization?
This is not a baiting question.
.d.