Remember how Americans used to be afraid of falling behind the Japanese?

“South Korea, perhaps more than any other country, is transforming itself through technology. About 17 million of the 48 million South Koreans belong to Cyworld, a Web-based service that is a sort of parallel universe where everyone is interconnected through home pages. The interconnectivity has changed the way and speed with which opinions are formed, about everything from fashion to politics, technology and social science experts said…Two years ago, after the opposition-led National Assembly impeached President Roh Moo Hyun, a consensus began forming on the Internet that the move was politically motivated — two hours after the vote took place, Mr. Chang said. “That quickly led to mass demonstrations,” he said. “That kind of thing had never happened in Korea before. Everyone is connected to everyone else, so issues spread very fast and kind of unpredictably.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/world/asia/02robot.html?ex=1301630400&en=d2a418720b473359&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Tip of the NeuroHat to Steve Solomon for the pointer.