I’ve often wondered why America doesn’t just implode. Our political climate is so charged that people will openly disrespect the President during the State of the Union address and town hall meetings regularly devolve into shouting matches. We have so many distinct groups within our country each with divergent political ideas. Moving beyond politics, we have a huge tech responsibility as we try to keep these ancient power and water grids functional. The problems I’ve illustrated are different for other countries, and the reason, I think, is the number of Americans per square mile.
Japan is a tech giant. They are so far ahead of us in terms of cellular and wireless tech that we sometimes view their everyday tech as science fiction. They can do so much because they are so small. The rollout of new tech is so localized that it can be accomplished so much faster than in a huge nation like the USA.
That space is a double-edged sword. While it makes it difficult to upgrade technology, it makes it easy to maintain social order. Because we are a large country with relatively few people, we have the space to distance ourselves from those who think differently than us. For the now it is a functional situation. I suppose there could come a time when the various sides take up arms and wage war for control of resources, but it seems far-fetched. Our idealist battles are fought on CNN and Fox News.