A Whole Bunch Of Big Technological Shocks

Historically, Large-scale Global Trade Has Served Two Functions: 1) The Exchange Of Goods Between Willing Sellers And Buyers Described In Econ 101 Textbooks; 2) As A Tool Of State Aggrandizement, In Which The Private Parties Are Stand-ins For Governmental Interests.

Compared With U.s. Cities, Japanese Cities Bend Over Backward To Help Foreigners. The Countryside Is Another Matter.

The Japanese Are Great At Inventing Complex Systems Of Rules, And Not So Great At Explaining Those Rules To Foreign Visitors.

The Embrace Of A New Technology By Ordinary People Leads Inevitably To Its Embrace By People Of Malign Intent.

The Human Propensity Is To Believe That Flukes Of Good Fortune Will Never Come To An End.