Thailand 4.0 and Digitalization:  Beware the buzzword trap

Thai people are very fond of buzzwords, especially those that promise to solve all problems.  When I first arrived here in 1986, Thailand was in the grip of a buzzword that had been popular for some time: Development.  
This was the magic bullet that was going to solve all problems and cure all ills. Later it faded in popularity and gave way to a new buzzword:  Globalisation. This was going to liberate all the little Thai fishies from their small harbour and give them access to the big wide ocean, where they would flourish and prosper. Unanticipated was the grim reality that it would also expose them to the depredation of giant sharks who would gobble them up.
Parallel to globalisation was another buzzword, Critical Thinking. This was the magic bullet that would save Thai education. To encourage it, kindergarteners would be allowed to choose their own textbooks.  
Whoever conceived this wild idea failed to consider that critical thinking can be taught effectively only when the mind has achieved a certain maturity. It was also being championed by people who failed to understand its wider implications.  
Kindergarteners would naturally choose the textbooks with the prettiest covers and the most pictures – not necessarily the ones that would teach them the most. Furthermore, critical thinking requires its acolytes to question EVERYTHING, including cultural icons – institutions, practices, beliefs, superstition – that traditionally have been off-limits to questioning.
Now development, globalisation, and critical thinking have lost their shine, but the appetite for buzzwords and magic bullets has not abated.  
Now we are being hypnotised by two buzzwords derived from the cyberworld: Thailand 4.0 and Digitalisation. These twin mantras are being intoned with reverence – nay, virtual worship – by everybody, and the nation is once more starry-eyed.
That these two buzzwords will solve all problems is doubtful in the extreme.  
What is clear is that they will further enslave Thai minds to the glitter of computer technology. Buzzwords, however cleverly packaged, are not going to solve Thai problems; and there are no magic bullets. What will solve Thai problems are rigorously applied intelligence, hard work, iron persistence – and a cultural context that encourages these virtues, which Thailand does not seem to have.
S Tsow