ASEAN and Geopolitical Rivalries

by Kishore Mahbubani

The West has Lost Its Dominant Position

Kishore Mahbubani

Kishore Mahbubani

It is a very interesting article trying to answer the question why Silicon Valley (SV) succeed in tech innovation and why Singapore may fail. There are a few insights and corrections:

• SV is not only about culture of innovation. Digital success was also supported by 'soft industrial policy' via regulation. Article 230 of Decence Communication Act created immunity of social networks for content they distribute. It has been unfair regulatory advantage comparing to media publishing houses. Amazon was developed thanks to the US Supreme Court taxation precedence (South Dakota case)

• Article correctly points to 'righit to failure' as one of key ingredients for SV success and limitation of Singapore and other societies.

• For me, the most interesting aspect is creation of network for fast exchange ideas without 'entry point criterion' (hierarchies, social position, age) and trusted environment for sharing ideas.

• Singapore, like most of European and Asian societies, created false perception of 'linearity' in life. Most lives became predictable like algorithm (school - university - marriage, children....). Society is becoming much less predictable which will put stable societies at new challenges. Paradoxically, spaces like the Balkans and the Middle East where predictability is not inter-woven in cultural tissue, may deal with coming disruptions easier. It was already noticeable with COVID-19 crisis as they adjusted faster to crisis situation than established societies. "Bolognisation' of higher education in Europe reinforced - falsely - idea of predictability: you get credits and you will progress in life and society.

• Hierarchies (explicit and tacit) are one of the main barrier for emergence of new ideas. While hierarchies will always exist in human society, as they do in nature, they have to be adjusted to new type of social and economic relations. For example, they should be kept in highly predictable and organised sectors such as airlines industry or medical care.

• Article leaves open on dilemma of the 'second end of geography'. They argue that virtualisation of jobs and work which accelerated during the COVID-19 crisis may create new dynamics not related to geography. The verdict is out, but one should be aware what happened with 'end of geography 1.0' from early 2000s when geography became even more important with, for example, high concentration of wealth and economic dynamism in a very limited geographical spaces such as Silicon Valley.

This is a very refreshing coverage outlining dilemmas which many countries will face. Operating system for Singapore and other countries should be 'open source' - like Linux.

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Efficiency has been 'Weberian' bridge between protestant basis of capitalist society and Asian societies. One of explanation of communism in China and Russia is that it was the only way to bridge idustralisation of protestant society to Asian cultural context. You can find in the basis of Marx's writings quite a few ideas of protestantism, including efficiency.