Regarding the Fukushima Initiative of the Asia Institute, I am a bit torn about whether or not we should use an analogy to the Manhattan Project. The analogy is a good one in that the Manhattan Project brought together the best and the brightest to focus their full attention on the extremely complex task of developing an atomic weapon quickly. Under the inspired leadership of Robert Oppenheimer, a group including such scientists as Richard Feynman,  John Manley and Enrico Fermi put together their collective wisdom and creativity to pursue in a period of a few years a project that would have perhaps taken more than a decade under normal circumstances. Certainly that is the sort of intensity and focus we are imagining with regards to Fukushima.

At the same time, the Manhattan Project is not a neutral analogy. It was, after all, the tragic beginning of nuclear weapons and by extension all nuclear technologies. To invoke the Manhattan Project requires us in a sense to strip it of its original political significance and use it almost in reverse. Perhaps the Fukushima Initiative is a Manhattan project to clean up the mess that resulted from the original Manhattan Project. In the words of Albert Einstein (a few books from whose library came into my possession through the assistance of Vince Rubino) the nuclear age “has changed everything but our thinking.” We need to see everything differently now. Fukushima has brought that message home and this is the moment for action.

I thought a bit about the recent interview in Arirang’s “Catch The Wave” with Adrien Lee.

Regarding K-Pop, I think we can say that Psy is like Elvis Presley: opening the door to new possibilities in music and a new direction in popular culture. The question is what the next step will be. If we look back on Elvis Presley, then the question is who will be the Beatles in Korea? Who will be Peter Paul & Mary? Who will be Simon and Garfunkel? The key, I think, is moving music back towards a concern with contemporary social issues so that is speaks to youth at multiple levels.

“Ultimately, the most critical element for ethical behavior in this day and age is imagination. Without a strong imagination, we cannot imagine the complex manner in which our actions, even those that seem so innocuous and innocent, impact the rest of the world. We need an imagination to put together the links between what happens here and what happens in Syria. Without an imagination, the two are forever unrelated.”

Emanuel Pastreich
September 1, 2013