Chapter 1 Masuda

Technology, economy, social structure, political system, reforms, symbol, and values… Masuda drew a complete blueprint of the information society. The 17 aspects listed in the book predict a new form of human society in a highly synoptic manner. I like the way that Masuda put the characteristics of two different forms of society – the industrial society and the information society – side by side, and I think he accurately describes some of the features of today’s society (e.g., technology amplifies human mental labor, information as the societal symbol, the importance of knowledge in expanding market).

However, most of the items seem very distant, especially those with regard to social and political aspects. I wonder whether Masuda, in his book, has predicted some kind of time frame for this new form of society. If so, what is it. Today, those statements about voluntary community, synergy, and universal standard of value sound to me like Utopia. I agree that if we are to take the label “information society” seriously, there should be such a set of characteristics that distinguish it from other previous societies. Masuda did a nice job listing them, but if they are accurate predictions, we are still very very far from information society, even the most developed countries.