<\/p>\n
To say that Korea is leading in technology is perhaps not the accurate term. In terms of basic research Korea does not have a definitive lead and there are plenty of others out there who have capabilities close to Korea\u2019s. Even Mexico and Malaysia have some real assets. Rather there is something just more human about technology and its use in Korean society which makes it more acceptable within the community and allows for innovation in Korea that is harder in other countries simply because innovation in technology has come to mean a more inhuman society for so many.<\/p>\n
I am not implying at all that the dehumanizing aspects of technological society have been avoided in the Korean society\u2014far from the case. Rather in Korea something akin to a fusion of the human and computer can be found that does not quite damage social fabric so profoundly. For example, Korea leads in e-government and is quickly digitalizing at all levels. And yet, if you call up a bank or government institution, you are likely to get a live human immediately, or quite soon. I hesitate to call up banks, or government agencies to try to resolve problems because my experiences as an American suggest there can be no happy ending, but in Korea, we find that much can be achieved in exactly that manner. I have called large bureaucracies in Korea and tracked down in a few minutes an individual in the proper division who then invites me to his or her office; hard to imagine experiencing such an outcome in the United States.<\/p>\n
So also the writings of Korean \u201cnetizens\u201d of cyberworld suggest something quite distinctive is happening here. Korea has extremely active cyber communities and we find often postings on news articles and other \u201ccafes\u201d that are written by articulate individuals deeply committed to exercising their free speech. Many Koreans say that the postings are more amusing than the articles themselves. Although there are such figures in the United States as well, most Americans will agree, I think, if I suggest that many postings to articles on the New York Times, or elsewhere, look like they were left there whose job it was to leave them there. In America we find much less of the spontaneity we find here.<\/p>\n
And Korea\u2019s embrace of technology is intimately linked to the concept of government, and by extension e-government. The American\u2019s have such a fear of government that most efforts to link up local organizations are ineffective and many assume that government-sponsored initiatives will not work. If you tell many Americans about \u201ce-government\u201d they will assume you are talking about replacing people with recorded messages. This problem is related to the general weakening of government in the United States for a variety of factors over the last sixty years. Whereas in 1960 a large portion of Harvard Law School graduates went on directly to work in government, today, almost none do. United States government has hollowed out terribly, causing quite serious problems.<\/p>\n
In the Korean case, however, government still has considerable appeal for the best and brightest, and most citizens have a greater degree of trust in government, more than I have witnessed in most countries. That situation means that technology can be part of innovative projects sponsored by government without much resistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To say that Korea is leading in technology is perhaps not the accurate term. In terms of basic research Korea does not have a definitive lead and there are plenty of others out there who have capabilities close to Korea\u2019s. Even Mexico and Malaysia have some real assets. Rather there is something just more … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9296425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49161,10990001],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology-and-society","category-today-in-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9296425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/green-liberty.org\/circlesandsquares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}