One of the big issues I have run into while building the story I'm currently working on, is the fact that their are multiple nations that exist in an industrial state, while others are far past this point. Some countries are far ahead; with powerful medicine, efficient and sustainable energy production, and are living peaceably, balanced with nature, as space travel develops. Others remain at current levels of technology; viciously fighting for control, using cheap and inefficient energy sources, and over consuming their resources in pursuit of their own profit.
Is it possible for both of these societies to exist at the same time? How would this come about? I'm not entirely sure about what kind of history there would be between nations like that, but I'm pretty sure its not positive. Would that affect anything?