Greetings Economists, On a private list about technology and economics I run, I had an exchange with someone in Japan about networked society. Alan has been writing for awhile about how communications technology in Japan has been well established and the cultural impact that has had. In this exchange, I talk about how the U.S. resists the technology because of the Just Say No culture and Asian communities embrace networked communications as a part of group think.
Doyle: I don't disagree with your point at all, but what I think is important about what you write is the sense of time in those groups. I think the overall sense of group formation is way in advance of the U.S. partly for cultural reasons. Simply put the U.S. is a society of just say 'no'. Forming a group goes against the grain of breaking free from roots to be one's self. In other societies I believe people think of forming more society with new aspects rather than going it alone. Back to what I wrote was important in your point, time, is tied to how we feel more than we realize. Feelings are time sensitive. Our feelings change with time. Our feelings are time specific. And forming groups really depends upon how the group feels about itself in the moment. This is where I think great social change can come from. The primary area would be how to understand the emotional connectivity that goes along with other aspects of communication between group members. Alan: Yes, I totally agree with you and I would like to add another great one for the American society, "Why should I?" I hardly ever hear that here, but many many students don't do their homework and maybe that's a form of it. Asia is a region of "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" and America is a society of "The wheel that squeaks the loudest gets oiled." It is very possible that relationships in general are deeper in USA than in Japan. Something that has always astounded me is that children never hug their parents. And I mean never. I have asked several hundred students if they ever hugged their mother and only a handful said yes. Yes, the divorce rate is much lower here, 24% vs about 50% in America but many marriages have ended years ago and they just stay under the same roof for the husband social status in the company (it's a no-no to get divorced if you have some ranking in the company).Many couples sleep in separate bedrooms. So the children, who are a very spoiled generation, all have mobile phones and use them extensively because they want to get out of their cramped and stifling houses and they roam and stay in contact with their friends and they easily change the meeting place or get help with something. It's firmly entrenched in the culture in Japan and I have read it's the same in developed Asian countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, S Korea. It's a group thing and the culture encourages that, yet the teenager also can eke out some kind of identity with colored hair, pierced this and that, funny-looking clothes, etc. What I like best about the Japanese mobile phone culture is that it is quiet. There is a protocol well established because it is a mature critical mass. The diffusion rate is quite high, over 70%. I'm one of the few people walking around that doesn't have one. Despite the bad crash of telecoms in America and Europe and the crash of the broadband providers in Europe, I still am extremely optimistic about wireless technology globally. Then why is Japan so weak and trying to get a grip and stay competitive in the global economy? That is the making of another email. I also want to write about finding common ground between your economic model of democracy and why America is and will be the the dominant and most innovative powerhouse in the global economy. I'm saying that a dramatic and profound paradigm shift is going on now and continuously and Asian countries are coalescing at warp speed to form the mightiest powerhouse of them all and they will make America look stale in 20-30 years. There is the group thing again; while America has to strong arm countries to support a war, Asian countries are working more like a cooperative group. Warmest Regards to You and Jan, Alan PS My very best to Jan. I thought of her several times recently.
