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Taiwan at the Crossroads
     In Southeast Asia, during the last five years, sunshine hours have been reduced 15%, which is pretty serious.  Secondly, the impact of the industrial revolution turned out to be very different for people in different countries, depending on whether they caught up with the moving tide or fell behind, the fate could be entirely different.

    Most European countries did catch up with the tide of industrial revolution, and they became powerful and expanded their circles of influence substantially.  However, most of the Asian, South American and African countries did not fare so well.   They all ended up as the colonies of western powers. It is really not easy to convince the people in Asian or Africa or South America that the industrial revolution had brought them benefits although it certainly did some good to European people. At the beginning of this century, some people in Asia realized that in order to catch up with the Western world, science and democracy need to be pushed forward. That was certainly the slogan of the May 4th Movement in China in the early part of this century. But since the most acute problem under colonial occupation or foreign invasion is the oppression brought about by the foreigners, it was nationalism rather than the democratic movements which transformed Asian countries in this century. In China, even after the socialist revolution, what unites and mobilizes the people more effectively is often nationalism, rather than idealistic socialist thoughts which seems to be fading rapidly. At the end of the Second World War, most of the Asian, African and Latin American countries had gained independence and they started to march on in various directions. Taiwan had certainly moved a big step forward, especially during the last 20 years, from the governance of a repressive regime toward a democratic society.

     During the last several decades, among the dazzling changes which have taken place, there seemed to suggest that there are some noticeable trends which are developing.  The first trend is that the second industrial revolution seemed to be shaping up.  This time, it is not related to the energy, it is based on microelectronics and information technology, which are led by the United States.  The first industrial revolution enabled mankind to overcome the limitation imposed by the power of muscle labor.   For example, all of us who plan to come to Cambridge, whether you are strong or weak or fat or skinny, it does not matter so long as you can drive the car or take the train, you can come here, the strength of muscle power is not important at all.  Well, the second industrial revolution will surely allow us to go beyond the limit of brainpower. In the United States, I once worked with a student doing research at the Taiwan University, I was examining a very complicated experimental apparatus and I was one of the few people who could imagine a three-dimensional thing and write it down in two-dimensional and upside down.

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