Korea Should Not Import the West’s ‘Techlash’
Technological innovation and production are the most important factors determining Korea’s economic future. Only technology can deliver the necessary growth, productivity and scale to enable the Korean economy to compete with the rest of the world, especially China.
But as Rob Atkinson writes in The Korea Times, both innovation and innovation policy must be grounded on a bedrock of aspiration and optimism. If society sees innovation as a necessary force for good there will be more innovation and better innovation policies. But if the dominant narrative is that technology is an out-of-control force for harm, there will be detrimental policies and less innovation. This latter situation is where the United States, Europe and Commonwealth nations (e.g., the West) find themselves today. Technology, especially digital technology and the corporations that produce it, are often seen as inherently suspect and problematic. Like Gulliver, they are giants to be tied down, not the necessary pillars of an advanced technological society.
These attitudes reduce both the enthusiasm for innovation and the efforts by government needed to spur it...
