Reflections on a 'New Mechanism' to Turn Irrationality into Luxury
It has been a long time since we started hearing the term 'regional revitalization,' but I do not feel that the situation has progressed significantly. As someone with roots in a regional area, I have been thinking about 'what should be done' for a long time.
Perhaps it would be easy to just go back myself. However, I feel that would only end in a momentary sentiment. What is needed is to redraw a 'mechanism' using current and future technologies—one where there is clear value, demand is generated, and it naturally becomes an option.
A city that is too sharpened and on the verge of breaking
The city is the extreme of capitalist rules. It treats economic rationality as correct and solves every inconvenience with money. As a result, the measure of value is consolidated into 'whether you have money,' and we are constantly working, saving, and worrying for the sake of future anxieties.
The development of AI will further accelerate this 'maximization of efficiency.' That competition, like sharpening a pencil lead until it is as sharp as possible, is certainly rational, but I cannot help but feel a vague anxiety that 'it might snap at some point.' I do not dislike capitalism, and we are here today thanks to its rationality. But just having that makes me feel tired. It doesn't lift my spirits.
The trap of 'equality' and the 'equity' unique to regional areas
Until now, it seems that regional areas have forcibly expanded infrastructure in search of the same convenience as cities. However, if you try to maintain the same grid in low-density land as in a city, it will inevitably result in a deficit. Isn't this the result of trying to forcibly apply 'equality,' which provides a pedestal of the same height to everyone, to regional areas as well?
What I want to think about is a form of 'equity' infrastructure that matches the individuality of that land.
For example, if autonomous driving and drone delivery are implemented in society, the 'front and back' of movement and logistics should be flipped at once. Through the cooperation of AI and IoT sensors, we will be able to optimize the scale of public facilities while compensating for labor shortages. If we build off-grid infrastructure, we should be able to be freed from the 'burden' of aging public facilities.
Combining existing technologies to weave new experiences
Come to think of it, the iPhone was not invented from scratch. I believe it changed our lifestyle precisely because it combined existing technologies—touch panels, communication, GPS, music playback—into a highly comfortable 'experience.'
Right now, wonderful technologies already exist around us. And in various places, there are pioneering individuals and local governments struggling to implement this 'new OS.' Connecting each technology and each activity to create new value. Just as the iPhone did, I am convinced that by re-weaving existing things, we can create a completely new 'experience' on the stage of regional areas.
The biggest challenge: how to convert 'hardship' into value
I do not deny the rules of the city. But I feel that if there is no place to balance things with a different 'value standard,' humans will break.
Therefore, what I want to emphasize most is how to support the foundation of life with advanced technology while simultaneously, turning the 'hardship' we intentionally left behind into value and creating a mechanism that attracts people point.
Just as Tom Sawyer once made boring painting look like a 'privileged game' to attract his friends, I want to redefine inconvenience as the 'tangible feeling of updating the world with your own hands.'
Labor as a workout: Instead of running alone at the gym, sweat by repairing the village or chopping wood.
Redefining rewards: Instead of increasing money itself, obtain direct richness such as the 'fire' gained from moving or the best ingredients you have personally selected.
Unrushed movement: Instead of leaving everything to drones, run errands for someone 'on the way' and enjoy the shared bounty.
I want technology to be training wheels for humans to experience the 'tangible feeling of fixing something with their own hands,' not to create a state where 'you don't have to do anything.' How to specifically incorporate this 'luxurization of hardship' into a system. That is my challenge from here on out, and the issue I want to deepen the most.
The future practice of switching between two operating systems
Rural areas are by no means 'laid-back' places. They have harsher nature than cities. But precisely because there are 'inconveniences' there that money cannot solve, moments remain where you can truly feel life through your own wisdom and body.
Sharpen your mind with urban 'rationality,' and reinforce your physical confidence with rural 'irrationality.'
A system that allows us to move between these two operating systems according to our mood and depth. Could this not be a prescription for us, who are so sharpened that we are on the verge of breaking, to live tomorrow a little more happily? That is the kind of thing I am pondering right now.