“The Melancholy of Subculture Society”, Gwern2009-01-12 (My Little Pony, terrorism, insight porn, Japan, psychology, sociology of tech; backlinks)⁠:

Internet links small groups, helping dissolve big groups; good, bad? But a bit sad.

The future of technology isn’t what it used to be—a discussion of the collapse of Japanese influence on technology & design. Why did Japanese companies cease to be the admired cutting-edge of computer, video game, Internet, or smartphone technology, underperforms in critical areas like software design (such as programming languages) and is instead one of the last havens of fax machines & feature phones, with prestigious but largely useless humanoid robotic programs?

• Surfing Alone
  • And Then There Were None
  • Welcome to the N.H.K.!
  • Opting Out
  • The Bigger Screen
• But I Can Get a Higher Score!
  • Monoculture
  • Subcultures Set You Free
  • Growing Up
  • Special, like Everyone Else
  • “A Winner Is You”
• Sympathy for the Poor Devil
• See Also
• External Links
• Appendix
  • Japan and the Internet

Backlinks: