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Focusing primarily on Japan vs the US, I'd argue there's two other factors that might be as big: economics and individualism. - Japan process of modernization
by aylmao 8y ago
Focusing primarily on Japan vs the US, I'd argue there's two other factors that might be as big: economics and individualism.
- Japan process of modernization much more recently and revolved more around technology companies. In the US, it happened earlier, and around other industries: it could be the case the admiration for technology has died out more. Also, Japan is an island, so self-sustainability is difficult-- robots not only help but will probably become necessary as the population ages. In the US, robots are associated with job loss.
- Individualism and the concept of free will has a higher priority in the US. Americans are obsessed with choice and it permeates thought: from fast-food restaurants with with "make your own" takes, to the autonomy states have, to the whole of the "American Dream". "Free will" is so revered that the idea of an entity without it is probably more foreign.
- majormajor 8y ago> Japan process of modernization much more recently and revolved more around technology companies. In the US, it happened earlier, and around other industries: it could be the case the admiration for technology has died out more. I'd argue there's a subtler reading here. What makes a "technology company" changes over time. Railroad companies were very much technology companies. Consider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_in_the_Garden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_in_the_Garden : "The title of the book refers to a trope in American literature representing the interruption of pastoral scenery by technology due to the industrialization of America during the 19th and 20th century." We don't consider railroads to be tech anymore, but they absolutely were at the time. Later on, cable companies were technology companies. Hugely innovative and disruptive to the existing TV market, yet forty years later they're already has-been dinosaurs. So I would definitely agree with the idea that the US has seen this cycle a few times, and has done the enchanted->cynical cycle a few times.
- jpindar 8y agoIt makes me sad that "technology" went from rockets and robots and lasers... to web pages.
- malloryerik 8y agoRobots might seem scarier in the US than in Japan because people seem scarier in the US than in Japan.
- aylmao 8y agoNever thought of it this way, but this is actually a great take on it that makes a ton of sense.