A World of Change

Dr. Robert Prandolini Editorial

Welcome

Let me welcome you to this first issue of The Asia Pacific Channel, the IEEE Region 10 Forum publication. Being the first issue it is my duty to register the purpose, rules and regulations of our publication. The Asia Pacific Channel is a special initiative of Dr. Paul Cheung, the Region 10 Director. His vision was to make members in the IEEE Asia Pacific Region more aware of the international flavor of the IEEE and of the Region 10 itself, encourage IEEE members in their professional activities and development, and to bring to member's attention the services and activities being conducted for them by the Region.

The disclaimer which would usually appear in the fine print of this publication will in this issue be brought to the top of the agenda. Articles published by The Asia Pacific Channel express the author's own opinions and do not represent the opinions or policies of the IEEE.

Since the IEEE is by far one of the best sources of learned technical publications, we felt it reasonable to make The Asia Pacific Channel a non-technical forum for IEEE members to discuss issues of a socio-economic nature. Thus the articles will be open to various opinions and views based on the many cultural and economic backgrounds of our members. Region 10 probably has the most diverse constituency of all the ten IEEE Regions. We can therefore look forward to many varied subjects and interesting article, and we invite them from our members. Please send them to the editor at the address on the front page.

This edition covers issues on ethics and professional ethics in community debates, technology transfer, the activities of the IEEE Transnational Committee, a report on the effect of the Kobe earthquake on the Telephone system, as well as articles from the Director.

A World of Change

The following thesis is a crystallization of the editor's evolving perspective on world culture. I have had the good fortune to have been able to meet with the chairs of IEEE sections throughout the world. Albeit that the meetings were brief and few and far between (I am no globe-trotter!), but the breadth of social developments across the world is striking and one cannot help but attempt to formulate some understanding of it. Lest we be no more than insects on this globe.

From an historical viewpoint there have been two formative economic revolutions in history. The development of agriculture which predates 2000 BC led to what we now call civilization, or more specifically, the formation of towns, cities, governments and empires. It took several millennium for it to evolve into the pre-industrial world of the eighteenth century. Then the Industrial Revolution created massive social and economic turmoil, with far reaching historical outcomes. But today no country does not embrace the industrial technology!

Humankind has therefore experienced a world of change from the very beginning of civilization, but nothing can compare with the pace of change over the last century. Our cultures have been under attack from this, and the Western culture is very much a reconstructed post-modern invention, adrift of any firm historical foundation. That is not to say that Western Culture is valueless. It just means that the historical roots of those values are somewhat lost, and consequently values now evolve with technological and societal change.

Some now say that Information Technology is becoming the third economic revolution with consequences of a similar order of magnitude to those created by the Industrial Revolution. I would concur. I cannot predict what the future social structures will be like, for we are all aware that our grandparents would not have been able to imagine today's world when they were young.

Members of the IEEE will be the key figures in the shaping of tomorrow's world. We need to take stock of where we have been, where we are now, and where we are going.