(It's fine...)Modern History Enabled by Electronics Revolution
It is electronics that has truly introduced revolution of life.
So, look around and you will find anything smart around you is functioning based on electronics.
A computer is a mass of electronics and its software is another form of electronics.
With these electronics, information is transmitted and acquired at a high speed.
For example, without this level of electronics and computers, China should have taken a century more to modernize its industry.
But, Japan has been part of original, global developers of electronics from the beginning as with the U.K. and America.
So, if you really want to understand the core of the modern economy, you have to well understand the nature of this "electronics revolution" since the era of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell.
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The electronics revolution of mankind began in the following manner:
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Maxwell had studied and commented on the field of electricity and magnetism as early as 1855/6 when On Faraday's lines of force was read to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. The paper presented a simplified model of Faraday's work, and how the two phenomena were related. He reduced all of the current knowledge into a linked set of differential equations with 20 equations in 20 variables. This work was later published as On Physical Lines of Force in March 1861.[59]
Around 1862, while lecturing at King's College, Maxwell calculated that the speed of propagation of an electromagnetic field is approximately that of the speed of light. He considered this to be more than just a coincidence, and commented "We can scarcely avoid the conclusion that light consists in the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena."[47]
Working on the problem further, Maxwell showed that the equations predict the existence of waves of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that travel through empty space at a speed that could be predicted from simple electrical experiments; using the data available at the time, Maxwell obtained a velocity of 310,740,000 m/s. In his 1864 paper A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field, Maxwell wrote, The agreement of the results seems to show that light and magnetism are affections of the same substance, and that light is an electromagnetic disturbance propagated through the field according to electromagnetic laws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clerk_Maxwell
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From the equations Maxwell discovered, the electric engineering started to develop, since it was given a concrete and effective underlying theory.
Inventions, such as electric lighting and radio telecommunication equipment, is just a promised step forward.
And then, mankind passed through the era of the Titanic and the First World War.
Over the Second World War, radars and electric calculators started to flourish.
After WWII, Japan started to industrialize and commercialize not only electric equipment but also integrated electronic circuit-driven equipment, such as Sony's transistor radios and TV sets.
All through the Cold War period, the U.S., Japan, Western Europe, and the Soviet Union competed in development of integrated-circuit-based general purpose computers.
Around 1990, it turned to be apparent that only the U.S. and Japan could compete fairly in this technology, inevitably leading to the fall of the USSR.
Japan and America entered the phase of small-sized computer development for personal use in early 1990's.
The U.S. Government took it as a real threat from Japan, thus even politically supporting Microsoft and Intel.
Consequently, Japan lost a chance to overwhelm the PC market in the world.
Then, the Internet age came being supported by advanced telecommunication software in terms of which America was culturally positioned far favorably than Japan. Wall Street has been the largest beneficiary in this context.
The U.S. military has been another largest beneficiary in this context. Accordingly, before September 11, 2001, no one doubted that the U.S. is the sole super power in this world due to its technological superiority and military capability based on the most advanced electronics (and software).
Indeed, the U.S. financial sector has been other largest beneficiary in this context. Accordingly, before September 15, 2008, no one doubted that the U.S. is the sole super power in this world due to its advanced financial skills based on the most advanced electronics (and software).
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There are various factors in that Japan has become the largest economy in the world except the U.S. after WWII.
Apart from a population size, the most important factor is that Japanese culture, education, and traditions have been advanced at a level comparable to Western Europe and America in terms of mastering electronics as a whole nation.
After WWII, hundreds of thousands of Japanese students have learnt electronics from Japanese professors and teachers in Japanese universities, as they did before WWII though in a larger number.
After WWII before the era of the PC and the Internet, advanced science and engineering knowledge could not be easily obtained. In Asian countries except in Japan, students had to learn English and go to America to learn any advanced world-class science. But, in Japan, you did not have to be able to speak English at all to learn advanced electronics, since they have been taught in Japan by Japanese teachers.
And, electronics was the most focused on in the Japanese higher education after WWII. After WWII, there had been a kind of electronics boom among Japanese students. It was not by chance at all that Japan excelled in electronics after WWII. The industry, the academic community, and students all tried to develop and expand the Japanese electronics science and engineering.
Those students have been employed by Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, NEC, Sharp, and so on to make Japan the second largest economy around 1970's and the world leading hi-tech nation around 1980's.
Looking at Japan's success, Korea and Taiwan and then finally China came to think that they could be another Japan since they all belong to the East Asian Civilization.
As diffusion of the PC and the Internet allowed these countries to get key information easily without sending students to Japan or America, their electronics industry also began to take off.
Conversely, if Japan had failed to be a global leader in electronics after WWII, Japan could not become the second largest economy in the world; Korea and Taiwan could not have become advanced followers of Japan in technology; and China should have been still an agriculture country, put extremely.
(To be continued...)
( http://www.just-oldies.com/1969/baby_i_love_you.htm)
Luk 7:18 And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things.
Luk 7:19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
Luk 7:20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
Luk 7:21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.
Luk 7:22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.