What we call the Modern World is a society heavily based in science and technology. The main difference between 1st-world countries and 3rd-world countries is that the former have a lot of people with a broad and deep understanding of these things whereas the latter have very few such people. Unless 3rd-world countries can educate-- or import-- a significant number of people in science and technology, they will never be part of the Modern World. Q.E.D.
