Try "sharing" a bowl of kake soba.

This time, we're featuring "The Web Is the Blueprint for the Future of the Real World" (PHP Shinsho).

Author Hiroto Kobayashi launched "Wired Japan" in 1994 and has been spreading internet culture since its dawn. In this book, he traces the evolution and trends from the internet's infancy to the present, introducing how "web-like" elements crossover into the real world through various case studies.

High tech and humanity, ownership and sharing, hope and fear, the online world and the real world. Written at the very center of this intersection where diverse values collide, this book prompts us to consider: For whom does the internet exist, and where is it headed? (From the "Introduction")

What exactly does "the web is essentially a blueprint for the future of the real world" mean? While this book touches on this concept from various angles, I feel it can be succinctly distilled into two points.

The first is that "the web has become a testing ground and prototyping space, where ideas are born and then emerge in the real world as services and products."

The second is that "we ourselves, influenced by web-like thinking and philosophy, are changing to think and act in a web-like manner in the real world too."

Through these two points, the web-like concepts of "openness" and "sharing" are permeating the real world.

These two concepts have been inherently woven into the fabric of the Internet since its inception. I'll quote a passage from the book that explains why.

Some people are surprised to learn that "e-mail travels through various servers." The Internet, fundamentally an infrastructure built on mutual access, isn't monopolized by any specific company or organization; messages pass through hardware and servers worldwide. That's why e-mail also uses a relay system, passing through mail servers to reach you. However, these servers don't charge fees; they remain open as relay points. The Internet exists because everyone opens up the infrastructure they possess. (From Chapter 2)

This book introduces various services and products born from the web that are deeply connected to these concepts of "open" and "share." Below are some excerpts.

・Facebook: By publicly sharing social graphs, it became the de facto standard for social networking services despite being a latecomer.
・The UK's "The Guardian," which advocates the concept of "Open Journalism" and explores the future of news reporting in an era of human connection.

・"MySixSense," an English-language news reader that evolves to suit your preferences by scoring delivered news articles.

・Estonia's "Happiness Bank," which promotes give-and-take between strangers through the cryptocurrency "Thank You Stars."

・3D printers, made affordable through expired patents, open-source development by communities, and lower pricing.

・Airbnb, a sharing service where hosts rent out spare rooms to guests.

・Zopa, a UK social lending platform connecting individuals for peer-to-peer lending.

Furthermore, by becoming familiar with the web—which fundamentally embodies an "open" and "sharing" mindset—and the services born from it like those mentioned above, it seems we are gradually changing to think and act in a web-like manner even in the real world, as highlighted as another key point.

For example, as mentioned in this book, despite car sharing being said to be unpopular in Japan, the membership of the country's largest car sharing service, "Times Car Plus," doubled in just one year. Furthermore, the creation of "Kumamon," an open-source character (even though government agencies were previously thought to be strict about rights), which can be used for PR and packaging featuring local products with the prefecture's permission, can be seen as evidence of this shift.

Even in everyday settings, when ordering dishes to share at restaurants—beyond what each person orders for themselves—I recall it being common to say something like, "Shall we order ◯◯ and share it?" Recently, however, I've increasingly heard people say, "Shall we share ◯◯?" (Though I personally feel too embarrassed to say it myself...).

While both phrases ultimately describe the same action, I sense a subtle difference in nuance. It's a vague feeling, but "let's divide it" implies that each person's portion or territory on the plate is already decided, whereas "let's share it" feels like ordering the dish as "everyone's" without clear boundaries.

For example, take the once-popular story "One Bowl of Soba Noodles." If we rephrase it as "A story about a parent and child sharing one bowl of soba noodles" instead of "A story about a parent and child dividing one bowl of soba noodles," doesn't it suddenly shift from sounding like "a tale of a poor but modest family showing consideration for each other" to "a positive little story introducing a clever life hack"?

I feel that the use of the word "share" has gradually transformed the act of sharing into something brighter, more positive, and happier.

Personally, I'm a rather gloomy, negative person who finds that crisp positivity somehow irritating and uncomfortable. But the fact remains that when the words used in society change, society's perception of the act itself changes too. So, if the term "share" in web communication continues to spread, I believe the real world will surely evolve to view the act of sharing more brightly, positively, and happily than before. Yay.

The idea that "the web is essentially a blueprint for the real world's future" doesn't just refer to prominent, visible services or products at the forefront of society. It also pertains to people's ideas, thoughts, and behaviors. Whether individuals realize it or not, it's actually the latter that is gradually, like a body blow, changing the very foundation of society.

The final chapter of this book presents "Seven Perspectives for Surviving an Age Where Common Sense Doesn't Apply." It outlines principles for actively bringing "web-like thinking" into the real world, rather than simply being swept along by its changes.

I'd like to conclude this article by introducing the headings of these seven perspectives.

New Rules:1

New Rule 2:
Find new "scarce" things

New Rules:3
Put things together that don't belong

New Rules:4
Find things that can't be searched

New Rules:5
Borrow from others in a cool way

New Rules:6
Upgrade your ideas

New Rules:7
Gain web reality

P.S. Since this book is such great content, I'd love to share it with you all. But I bought it as a Kindle edition, so I can't lend it out! Sorry! It's kind of funny how physical paper books are actually easier to share, isn't it? So please pick up a copy yourself.