SHRAGER%CMU-PSY-A@CMU-CS-PT@sri-unix.UUCP (08/10/83)
I'm a little confused about why this Japanese business seems to be scaring the pants off of the US research community; why scientists are quoted in national news magazines as being "panic stricken", and why terms like "race" and "ahead" are being thrown around in a community of "scientists"; why anyone cares if the fifth generation thing is propoganda or not. You'll find out when they make it work or they don't! Science is a cooperative effort. If Japan wants to jump forward (note, not "ahead" in any sense) in technology and understanding it is the position of every other scientist to applaud their boldness and provide every ounce of critical advice we can give them. So what if symbolics goes bankrupt becuase Japan makes a machine that makes the 3600 look like an Apple!? It will probably cost one third as much and I'll be able to have one on my desk to further my research efforts. Likewise, whatever the Japanese research community learns will certainly benefit my research, even if just by learning what roads are not fruitful. Worry about the arms race, not the computer race! Work as hard as you can to further science and technology, not to beat the Japanese! Work toward the Nth generation, not the fifth or the sixth or the seventh.... A little competition is probably useful sometimes, but not to the detrement of the community spirit of science. If we start hiding things from one another, do we have the right to call ourselves scientists? When I begin to worry is when Japan decides to build a better MX missle, not a better computer system. Then issues of scientific morals are involved and it's a whole 'nother ballgame.