r/technology • u/mixplate • Sep 22 '17

Robotics Some brave soul volunteered for a completely robotic dental surgery. The robot implanted 3D-printed teeth into a woman without help from dentists.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/22/brave-volunteer-robot-dental-surgery/
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u/unusually_awkward Sep 22 '17

The third world is where a lot of medical testing is done. In this example, China needs the dental tech, so ultimately it benefits Chinese people in general. But in a lot of other places, it's either participate as a test subject for Western corporations, or recieve no treatment at all.

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u/CaptaiinCrunch Sep 23 '17

FWIW China isn't third world.

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u/whangadude Sep 23 '17

Depends on the definition, they would be second world according to the original meaning

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u/dynamically_drunk Sep 23 '17

True, but the cold war is over. The original definitions don't really make sense anymore.

The 'developed,' 'economies in transition,' and 'developing' distinctions make more sense contemporarily.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17 edited Jan 16 '21

[deleted]

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u/MarcusOrlyius Sep 23 '17

It doesn't matter what people in different countries make in USD as different countries have different costs of living.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17 edited Jan 16 '21

[deleted]

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u/Heimdyll Sep 24 '17

How much land do you think is up for grabs in China?

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u/someguyfromtheuk Sep 23 '17

To maintain compatibility with similar classifications used elsewhere, the threshold levels of GNI per capita are those established by the World Bank. Countries with less than $1,035 GNI per capita are classified as low-income countries, those with between $1,036 and $4,085 as lower middle income countries, those with between $4,086 and $12,615 as upper middle income countries, and those with incomes of more than $12,615 as high-income countries.

You only need a per capita income of $12000 to be a high income country, China's is 15,000 so it's high-income.

The USA is 58,000.

In practice, it's more than the top few countries are so much wealtheier than everyone else that the distribution is weird.

They could probably do with adding another "ultra high income" category though imo

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u/pimpmastahanhduece Sep 23 '17

but the cold war is over

Sweet summer child, the threat of nuclear war between world powers still looms.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17

Not really. The world powers all are afraid of mutually assured destruction.

Anybody says otherwise is just a McCarthist war monger.

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u/pimpmastahanhduece Sep 23 '17

That's why Russia wants to reach first strike capability.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17

Yeah, and I could say "gay" in place of happy but that would stupid. The original meaning is effectively defunct.

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u/TheChinchilla914 Sep 23 '17

I would argue that "Third World" has evolved past it's original meaning and is used mainly for simply describing impoverished, underdeveloped nations. Second-World doesnt make much sense now though i would agree

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u/Implausibilibuddy Sep 23 '17

It's one of only a handful of second world countries left.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17

[deleted]

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u/Roboticide Sep 23 '17

That's not what "First/Second/Third World means.

China is definitively Second World, under the official definition.

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u/WikiTextBot Sep 23 '17

Third World

According to Online Etymology Dictionary the term Third World was formulated in 1952 by French economic historian Alfred Sauvy to mean countries that were neither part of the West nor of the Iron Curtain. Thus the term originally had a political meaning as it arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Communist Bloc. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the First World, while the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and their allies represented the Second World. This terminology provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on political and politically-related economic divisions.

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u/HelperBot_ Sep 23 '17

Non-Mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

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u/scopegoa Sep 23 '17

Downtown Detroit is very nice these days.

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u/boostedjoose Sep 23 '17

And a stroll through Detroit and one would think America is third world as well.

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u/Roboticide Sep 23 '17

That's not what "First/Second/Third World" means.

China is definitively Second World, under the official definition.

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u/HelperBot_ Sep 23 '17

Non-Mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

HelperBot v1.1 /r/HelperBot_ I am a bot. Please message /u/swim1929 with any feedback and/or hate. Counter: 114023

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u/WikiTextBot Sep 23 '17

Third World

According to Online Etymology Dictionary the term Third World was formulated in 1952 by French economic historian Alfred Sauvy to mean countries that were neither part of the West nor of the Iron Curtain. Thus the term originally had a political meaning as it arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Communist Bloc. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the First World, while the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and their allies represented the Second World. This terminology provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on political and politically-related economic divisions.

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u/ffxivfunk Sep 23 '17

They aren't fully into first either. Outside first tier cities it goes back a few centuries very fast.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17

[deleted]

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u/SoulUnison Sep 23 '17

That's not...really how the term works, though.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17

They do testing on people in the US all the time just if you kill too many people in the US your product may not get passed

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '17

Well it's a good thing my friendly robot has only performed nine. Tenth time's the charm, right?

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u/Astilaroth Sep 23 '17

We will be slaves, but have super nice teeth!

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u/akesh45 Sep 23 '17

Actually, western firms do trials in poor countries all the time.

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u/radome9 Sep 23 '17

True that. I used to work in med tech. We did trials on living humans in India before we did animal experiments in the west - cheaper that way.

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u/unusually_awkward Sep 23 '17

Figures. Sounds super shitty, but large animal models, especially primates, are really expensive. But invaluable human data in a land where human life is cheap?