Exactly. As it stands, most first world tech depends on first world infrastructure-- something you simply can't depend on. However the third world has a surfeit of labor and other things that make uneconomical first world ideas into economical ways to CREATE infrastructure.

Though it's an achingly slow process, of course. Then again, most of the quick fix ideas have failed, so maybe slow is better than stopped.

Its not technology that worries me, or even really being totally self-sufficient. It's simplifying and eroding away dependence on elaborate and not-to-be-found infrastructure.