Although theirs was a vastly different culture from that of the British, after decades of lagging behind the West, the Japanese quickly forged to the forefront in several technologies. Technology, he claims, is not the sole determinant of economic progress. Also playing a role in both economic and social achievements are differences in work habits, savings propensities, organizational skills, personal hygiene, attitudes, and self-discipline. Usually, the fate of a culture lies in its members' own hands. The spread of technology may or may not require the movement of people, and, increasingly, the spread of technology has depended upon formal education, rather than the movement of people with practical experience in modern technology.
Countries are more receptive to the transfer of knowledge than people.
A brain drain from the underdeveloped to the developed world is not inevitable. Americans and Japanese learned British technology and stayed at home to utilize it. Whether people who have mastered the advanced culture of other societies remain at home to apply their knowledge to the development of their country, rather than migrate to other countries, depends upon the culture of their country and the political and economic decisions made there that facilitate or stifle the use of their new knowledge. A country may be unable to currently utilize the most advanced technology because its people lack the necessary skills to utilize it. While the underdeveloped countries have been passive recipients of modern products and technology, Japan seized upon Western technology in the nineteenth century, and in the twentieth century overtook the West in many respects.