Technology at a crossroads: The Fifth Generation Computer Project in Japan

Abstract

In the midst of intense Japanese/U.S. trade frictions in high technology in the early 1980s, Japan took the unprecedented step of launching a revolutionary Fifth Generation Computer Project (FGCP). Until that juncture, Japan had simply followed paths laid out by the West in the areas of science and technology. The FGCP, however, represented a historical moment as Japanese engineers attempted to extricate themselves from untenable constraints while presenting reputable achievements to the world at large. In designing the Fifth Generation Computer, Japanese engineers found themselves split between two tenable concepts: a revolutionary new computer of non-Von Neumann architecture or an evolutionary computer that combined Von Neumann with non-Von Neumann elements. At a crossroads, unable to prove to each other the technological superiority of one over the other, they made their decision to take the revolutionary path on the basis of non-technical factors: the universal cultural values “originality” and “fairness.” This paper will argue that in contrast to the importance often given to unique, local, culture-bound values when dealing with non-Western case studies, the Japanese engineers deliberately chose universally recognized cultural values to resolve their technological impasse. The choice was made not only to advance computer technology, but essentially to gain indisputable distinction and to establish a new and fresh technological relationship with the Western World.