“Let us Permit Imagination!” Kookmin Ilbo Newspaper
February 6, 2012
This article argues that in Korea there are plenty of extremely creative people. The problem is simply that organizations do not let them realize their potential.
국민일보
2012년02월06일
“상상력을 許하라!”
이만열 (임마누엘 페스트라이쉬)
“낡은 도시 잠재력 깨우려면 행정·정치가 예술가의 창의력 발휘를 뒷받침해야 한다”
It is a platitude that the world is growing smaller. Whether reading through Frances Cairncross’s “The Death of Distance” or Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat” one gets the impression that the growth of new technologies which link us together reduces distance between us and makes the world smaller, more connected. Although it is hard to imagine how seven billion people could ever be a single group, a global village, there will be few objections if I say that “technology is making the world smaller” at a cocktail party.
But that assumption is not necessarily true. Let me make two different, related points.
Article in Korean on Emanuel’s work at Kyung Hee University and the Asia Institute published in KDI’s Journal “The National Economy. The interview focuses on the importance of the humanities in an age of rapid technological change.
February, 2012
Korea Development Institute “The National Economy”
“The Humanities as a Common Basis for Communication between People”
Korea Development Institute
KDI 한국개발연구원
월간 나라경제
2012년 2월
“인문학은 인간과 인간을 소통하게 하는 하나의 상식”
This rather technical article is based on the research that the Asia Institute conducted together with the Korea Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology in 2008-2009.
“A study in the growth of international biomedical research
collaboration in Korea”
Authors: PASTREICH, EMANUEL1; SIMON, IAN2; MALAZGIRT, ALP3
International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development
Volume 10, Number 2, 12 December 2011 , pp. 147-164(18)
Abstract:
This article is a study about international scientific collaboration,
specifically as it relates to the biotechnology sector in Korea. The
Korean biotechnology sector is compared to other major centres for
Korean Organic Farming: “The Jewel of Great Price”
Emanuel Pastreich
The Asia Institute
January 25, 2012
The Flower of the Dharma Sutra (Fahuajing 法華經) includes a remarkable tale entitled “The Jewel of Great Price” (無價寶珠) that describes quite accurately the state of organic farming in Korea today as a forgotten treasure.
In “The Jewel of Great Price,” a man is given a jewel by a friend as a present. But because the friend sews the jewel safely into the lining of the man’s jacket while he is sleeping and does not have the chance to tell him about it before parting early the next morning, the man suffers through terrible deprivations over years, unaware that he has this priceless jewel right in his own jacket. Only later when he meets up again with his friend does he learn of the treasure that he was carrying with him.
KOREA HERALD
Emanuel Pastreich
Korea’s tradition of propriety: Godsend for network age
2012-01-25 19:05
In this age the complex relations developing between individuals outside of the workplace or the family, whether those that develop through online communications within organizations, or those found in social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, are having a profound impact on our society. Connections between people from vastly different
“Korea’s Unique Tradition of ‘Propriety Studies’ as a Treasure in a Network Society”
An essay advocating in Korean for the value of Korea’s tradition of propriety studies as an inspiration in our efforts to formulate new strategies for responding to the challenges of a network society.
Emanuel Pastreich (이만열)
아시아인스티튜트
2012년 1월 14일
“한국의 독특한 예학 전통: 네트워크 시대를 위해 신이 하사한 선물”
하버드대 에서 한국 고전 문학을 공부 했을때 조선시대 의 문학가들, 김만중, 박지원, 정약용의 글을 좀 읽어봤엉요. 그글안에서 “禮學”이라는 학문 에 대 한 언급이 참 많았어요. 중국에 있는 禮 에 대 한 연구 와 같 같은 인 데 중국에도 없었던 포괄적인 학문 까지 발전 했나봐요. 단지 冠婚葬祭의 사례 모이는 것 보다 전사회질서를 평화로운 수단으로 유지 하는 헌법에 가까운 성격의 제도 있었다는 느낌이 들었어요. 그리고 고대 에 대 한 사례가 예학 연구에 많이 나오지만 왠지 매우 현대적인 인간 인간 사이를 관리 하는 방긱으로 보이고 매우 신선 했어요.
I made this presentation at Korea’s Federation of Women’s Science and Technology Association’s “21st Century Women Leaders Forum.” I was invited by the chairman, Dr. Myungja Kim, who is a close friend. She served as the minister of the environment previously and has distinguished herself as one of the few scientists deeply engaged in the policy debate. I was the only man at the event and perhaps the only man to ever present at the forum. Most likely i was invited because of my recent article arguing that the next president of KAIST should be a woman.
November 18, 2010
Nano-Art and Bio-literature
We have worked with a variety of institutes on the question of “convergence” –a term so broad that it is sometimes unnerving. It so happens that I am meeting the Director of Convergence at KRISS tonight to discuss this topic. Much discussion of convergence in terms of the coming together of computers and communication devices (ICT) and also convergence between new fields: IT-bio & nano-bio. But Korea has conceived of “convergence” as applying to larger themes such as the marriage of technology and art and the new for potential spaces for expression thus generated. This last theme seemed secondary to me at first, but in fact, I have come to see it as perhaps the core for “technology convergence” in our age.
At first I thought about the whole matter of technology-art convergence humorously. I asked friends facetiously whether we would soon have “bio-literature” or “nano-painting.” It took me a while to comprehend the essential issue.
Art and literature allow us to conceive of what is happening to our world at the nano level and the macro level. How cells divide and how global networks evolve that span the world. In fact, the use of art, enhanced by the next generation of animation technology, is the best hope we have to help average people (which includes most policy makers) to understand how technology is changing our reality. Similarly, literature, the inspiring and entertaining description of our world, will give us the tools to comprehend what otherwise seems like an invisible process by which Moore’s Law is remaking our world. First one must be able to conceive of the process and then one can make informed decisions.
Alex Lee of Woosong University sent me today this link from the New York Times about the effort to animate the micro-nano level. It is just the start of a new field, but one that may eventually lead us to have clear images and special relations we can assign to processes that previously were wrapped in a mystery appropriate to the high priests of alchemy.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/11/15/science/1248069334032/the-animators-of-life.html
The Inner Life of a Cell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz4lFeqJPdU