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■"China's Little Green Book: Keeping an eye on China in the race for a sustainable future," op-ed by Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, 2 November 2005, p. A31.
■"From Gunpowder to the Next Big Bang: Modern China is set to get creative," op-ed by Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, 4 November 2005, p. A25.
■"Taking The Future For a Drive: California Family Tests Honda's Fuel Cell Car," by Danny Hakim, New York Times, 2 November 2005, p. C1.
Friedman on a tear regarding a subject near and dear to my heart: when I sign "NCÌNRs!" in copies of
Blueprint for Action, I'm writing "The New Core sets the New Rules!"
This is a major theme of BFA. The New Core sets the new rules on all sorts of things: technology, development speed, "satisfactory" outcomes, etc. We won't be bringing the Gap up to U.S. standards of living, but rather up to the standards of New Core pillars like India, Russia, China and Brazil.
I can almost hear the OMYGODS!THAT'S-SO-UNFAIR!
But it isn't. It's realistic.
I say the New Core sets the New Rules not because they're smarter, but because they're most incentivized to do so, given all the rural poor they're trying to deal with, and all the rapid-fire development they're engaging in. So they'll come up with the best new technologies because they'll be working the classic problems with the greatest urgency.
Meanwhile, in America, we'll "experiment."
I write in BFA: don't expect California to drive the fuel-cell car's emergence. Instead, expect China to do so, because of the quintupling of the car market, the rapid uptick in pollution, and their sheer desire to conquer our car market eventually.
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