If The Future Is Cultural Power . . .

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This article on the future of China as a superpower intrigued me, mostly for asking the question of what kind of superpower China could be.  As I analyzed it, I ultimately figured power has to be cultural on one level or another – simply using force of any form is limited and limiting, as well as exhausting and compromising.  So my rough figuring was China will have more power the more it is able to exert positive cultural influence.

Then I began thinking about the world.  Where US films are exported everywhere.  Where anime is a giant cultural export for Japan.  Where India has taken the musical to amazing heights.  Where Gangnam style has raised awareness of Korean music, and probably K-pop as a whole.

The US was also good at leveraging export technologies and economic and political power post WWII.  Anime would not have been nearly as popular in the US without fansubs, streaming, and cheaper delivery technology.  India’s media popularity has gone slow-burn, but seems to be helped by things like Netflix and hip cultural awareness like the Colbert Show.  Gangnam style wouldn’t even be KNOWN without Youtube.

Cultural power is something that China will want and need – and that means media and communications technologies, shows and comics, a real media/world presence.

So that makes me wonder what’s next for China.  Will it try to build a culture engine for commercial, economic, and cultural power?  Will one evolve or be allowed to evolve?  Is it even being thought of?

What will their geeks and geekonomy be like if they seek superpower status and cultural influence in the world?

I’m not sure I have answers.  OK I’m pretty sure I don’t, but it’s going to be interesting to see the Chinese geekonomy and how it works – and evolves – and connects it to the world.  You have to open up to have influence . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

 

 

The Matter-Eater Lad Principle

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I am fond of the infamously ever-continuing (and lately ever-rebooted) comic tales of the Legion of Superheroes.  Set in the 30th century, it’s about a group of young people who revive the superheroic ideal, band together disparate races and cultures, and have grand adventures.  It’s kind of it’s own genre, but is probably closest to the Japanese Anime trope of “bunch of people with abilities have adventures.”

Now it may sound weird, but this series actually had a moment that I find is a great thought provoker.  It happened when Tenzil Kem, aka Matter-Eater Lad (Yes, the names were a bit lame) was drafted to run for office on his homeworld.  Yes, imagine a political system where anyone could be in office, wether you wanted to be or not.  I suppose it was a bit like the Drazi of Babylon 5.

Now, this rather humorous incident in comics actually made me think; imagine a society where office was that random.  Imagine a society where at any moment any citizen could end up with political power.  As much as there’s humor in those statements, it’s also a thought-provoker.

See, we live in a high-tech democracy here in America.  Yes, we can certainly criticize the system, the media, the candidates, and . . . well everything . . . but people can still have a voice.  That voice may be carried by single vote or by blog or whatever, but it is a voice.  Certainly in the age of Joe The Plumber (OK he’s neither Joe nor a Plumber, stick with me), any of us could end up a political focal point.

We all have some amount of political power, and might end up with quite a bit.  We’re all a bit like Tenzil Kem, only with less of a publication history.

So are we ready?  Are we, like the inhabitants Tenzil’s homeworld of Bismoll (yes, it is a lame joke, but that’s the real name), ready to exercise our political influence?  Are we ready to have our words put into action?

Are we ready for the repercussions?

When someone makes a political statement, says what we should do, etc. I always like them to spell out their plans.  How will their idea work?  What are the repercussions? What are the side effects?  What did you base your ideas on?  Someone who can’t answer that – or who responds with snide comments and accusations – isn’t ready for political power of any kind, from a blog to a position.

We can have influence at any time.  We should be ready.

Of course judging by the sorry state of our politicians, pundits, preachers, and media people supposedly with political power are in no way ready to wield it.  Or express it.  Or in a few cases I doubt they can tie their shoes properly.

So maybe we should be holding everyone to higher standards.  Including ourselves.  In fact, starting with ourselves, since it’s too easy to just accuse others of being wrong.

Do it.  Do it for Matter-Eater Lad.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Poll Dancing

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Well, if you have been paying any attention to the news, you’ll see people talking about polls.  Polls this, polls that, etc.  Mostly it revolves around Nate Silver, who is being questioned about his polls showing a 75% change for Obama because . . . well I guess politics and ignorance of math.  Silver’s got a good record and doesn’t really hide anything.

Of course there has been an advantage to this in that people are paying attention to polls and asking questions about them.  The disadvantage is this seems to be pathetically political and ignorant in many cases, but at least there’s attention.

The thing is polls are inherently unsure – this is where your friend, Mr. Margin of Error comes in.  This is why people analyze them, why folks like Silver and other analysts build models and study trends.  Because yes, it is unsure, so you strive to get better.

I’m hoping as people examine polls and hear them talked about, we’ll get, on average, increased attention to how they work and how analysis works.

Sadly, I also think we’re going to see everything about polls more politicized.  Of course that could get interesting, because if you skew polls to fit a political view, you start destroying their value . . .

This is also another example of why I think math and some basic statistics/research skills are indispensable to survival.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.