090 - Absence and the Social Contract

After several more days of closely observing everything around me in Thailand, I've begun to notice more of what is absent, and what that absence means.

I noted yesterday the lack of cigarette butts everywhere, a thing you'll often see in the US and Europe, but that is the tip of another iceberg.

Despite there being food virtually everywhere, you don't see the (literal) rats that rule Seattle streets, nor the abundant seagulls and pigeons that dominate many similar places in Europe. You also see very little graffiti anywhere.

You see people everywhere, but the manner is more respectful and considerate. People are also less guarded, and not visibly fearful like many in the "Western" world. As others have noted, homelessness is also absent, and no signs of drug use have been visible anywhere I've gone.

What does all of this mean?

In isolation any of these things may be interpreted narrowly in any number of plausible-sounding, but wrong, ways. Together, they paint the picture of a much stronger "social contract". This means that there is a much stronger bond of trust, shared purpose, and passive adherence to social norms. The means of enforcing this social contract may differ, but the presence of it is something lacking elsewhere.

It makes sense that a more communally focused culture would benefit more from the adoption of technologies that advance the social and economic connectome of society, and that explains this accumulation of observations.

The term "developing countries" was once coined and applied to countries rising out of poverty and building their infrastructure. It now seems appropriate to apply the term "undeveloping countries" to places like the US that are steadily sliding into a state where they no longer have any functional social contract, skyrocketing prices have far outpaced actual value, and infrastructure is crumbling, or a luxury assigned to the select few.

While some countries slide into Idiocracy and are likely to dive head-first into the shallow end as early as 2024's election cycles, thanks in no small part to (de)generative AI, other countries are steadily improving.

A Western proverb comes to mind, "Medice, cura te ipsum", which translates as "Physician, heal thyself".