Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ucla-cs!zen!ucbvax!unisoft!gethen!farren
From: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Japan and semiconductors (further digression)
Message-ID: <533@gethen.UUCP>
Date: 7 Jan 88 14:31:26 GMT
References: <2291@crash.cts.com>
Reply-To: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren)
Followup-To: talk.politics
Organization: There's Unix there in Oakland
Lines: 45

In article <2291@crash.cts.com> haitex@pnet01.cts.com (Wade Bickel) writes:
>
>	My original point was simply this; We as a nation cannot afford
>to allow the Japanese or any body else to gain a significant lead in 
>digital technology.

Disregarding any arguments about the truth of this assumption (I don't
think it's true, by the way), what damn difference does it make?  If
we assume that each nation is an independent entity, which has to 
defend itself against any and all other states because its life depends
on it, then your viewpoint makes sense.  In the world as it really
exists today, though, that viewpoint is dangerously limited.  We live
in an environment where every nation's economic health is dependent,
to some extent, on every other nation's economic health.  Europe has
long realized this (thus the EEC), while we in the U.S. are still
clinging to the idea that our own interests are the only ones which
are important, and this is hurting us more than it is helping.

Frankly, if the Japanese can make microelectronics more efficiently,
more power to them.  Not only does this mean that we all can benefit
from their expertise, but it also means that we won't be stuck in
the situation that we have found ourselves in more and more lately -
where we insist on protecting a domestic industry that isn't willing
to take the measures necessary to compete in the real world.  We've
seen this happen with the steel and textile industries already; the
only way we'll be able to avoid the same sort of fate for the micro-
electronics industry is to face the fact that we're being beaten,
and take appropriate measures, either to regain the lead we've lost
or to simply accept the situation as it stands.  Hiding our heads,
and saying that it isn't necessary to acknowledge other's efforts,
gains us nothing except a false sense of superiority.  When we can
demonstrate a real superiority, the problem won't be a problem any
more.

This has gotten quite far from Amiga issues - I'm directing followups
to talk.politics, where it probably belongs.  Unfortunately, I don't
get talk.politics, but that's life.  If I believed in the sorts of
things that the trade protectionists believe in, I'd FORCE everyone
to cross-post to comp.sys.amiga, and damn the consequences :-)

-- 
Michael J. Farren             | "INVESTIGATE your point of view, don't just 
{ucbvax, uunet, hoptoad}!     | dogmatize it!  Reflect on it and re-evaluate
        unisoft!gethen!farren | it.  You may want to change your mind someday."
gethen!farren@lll-winken.llnl.gov ----- Tom Reingold, from alt.flame