- Social life
- Intellectual culture
- Material development
Of course, most of us would prefer for a place to score high in all of these areas but realistically most of the locations that we visit will excel only in one or two of them and patently lack in at least one. The truth is that we usually have to make sacrifices and the location that we ultimately choose will depend on what we individually value the most.
For me, I judge the following locations as having the following quality combinations:
UK - social life ABSENT, intellectual culture ABSENT, material development PRESENT
The UK is my home country and it is no secret that I absolutely hate the place. The UK offers a very poor social life with a high level of antisociality and it is quite difficult to make friends there beyond the level of mere acquaintances. It also has a poor level of intellectual culture despite the country having some elite universities. The typical Brit is a complete bumpkin who can only talk about simple material things like work, football (soccer), popular entertainment and pub culture. Don't expect any deeper level of conversation from most people. Brits typically find those with deeper intellectual interests "weird" and look at you as though you were "insane". The UK's only good point is its high level of material development with well-organized (but mostly ugly) cities, a relatively strong economy, and consumerism. Even working-class families will typically have multiple TVs, laptops, tablets, etc. and at least one vehicle.
Spain - social life PRESENT, intellectual culture PRESENT, material development PRESENT
For me, Spain has it all. As a Mediterranean country, Spain has a vibrant social life which is inclusive and gives me ample opportunities to make friends and meet hot women. The difference with the UK in that regard is literally night and day. In my experience, Spaniards by and large are much better at expressing themselves than Brits and are more willing to have conversations about culture, art, history, philosophy and other deeper topics. Finally, even though Spain is not as materially wealthy as the UK, it still has a well-developed infrastructure and offers a firstworld standard of living.
Japan - social life ABSENT, intellectual culture ABSENT, material development PRESENT
I lived in Japan in the early 2010s and generally didn't like the country. Japan is a lonely country with little social connection. I found it hard to make lasting friendships despite knowing how to speak Japanese. The social life was quite disappointing in comparison to Mediterranean and Latin American countries. Japanese people are generally not very intellectual either. Like Brits, they are mostly only capable of having conversations about simple material things like work, food, TV programs, etc. and are poor at expressing themselves. Most of them are boring wooden people. Again, like the UK, Japan excels at material development. Its cities are orderly and clean (albeit monotonous concrete jungles), it's an economic powerhouse within Asia, and you can find all kinds of products and amenities with ease.
Latin America - social life PRESENT, intellectual culture ABSENT, material development ABSENT
I've spent time in Peru and Mexico. The social life is absolutely amazing and off the chain. The culture is so wild, vivacious and free-spirited and I find myself in a constant state of exhilaration. Latin America has a unique magic. However, Latin America doesn't have a particularly developed intellectual culture for the most part. Most people are simple people more concerned with material survival and more worldly interests. They are typically more interested in fútbol, family get-togethers, dancing and partying than anything too deep. Materially, much of Latin America is still considered "developing". The larger cities are chaotic, poverty abounds in certain neighborhoods, the roads are generally of poorer quality than those of Europe, Latin American households usually have less material goodies than European ones, and everything seems more basic.
Of course, Latin America is a vast continent and my observation above cannot be generalized to every part of it. Chile for example is a materially developed country and seems to be on par with Spain in that regard. Also certain cities in Colombia and Mexico have developed a lot in the last few decades and offer a considerably higher standard of living than other parts of the continent (e.g., Querétaro, Monterrey, Medellín, etc.). Likewise, Argentina is known for its intellectual culture. People say that Argentina and its neighbor Uruguay feel more European than the rest of Latin America.
Which of these three qualities do you attribute to the countries where you have lived?