This episode touched on a topic thats been talked about quite a bit on the show and on stratechery so far and thats the emerging Indian market. Lots of people have been talking for years about China’s rapidly growing middle class but you dont hear as much about India. I think the truth is the middle class isnt growing very quickly or at all, but time and technology continue to march forward.
So on one side of the debate you say, the internet and the technological revolution the rest of us are living through right now is here waiting for you little India, once you figure out how to make something the rest of the world wants to buy maybe we’ll let you play in our sandbox. And the other side is saying we can use everything we have learned to bring down the cost of internet access to a level that anyone can afford. That the internet isnt a prize for those who work hard enough to get into the middle class, but instead its the tool that the poor of India can use to build their ladder to the middle class. That the internet can actually be the force for good that we so often claim it is, that instead of just making the rich richer and the fast faster, it can actually dramatically change peoples lives.