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The Fifth Generation Project in Japan (1992)

se Fifth Generation Project in computer technology was an attempt to leapfrog Western computer expertise and create an entirely new computer technology. Although the generation terminology is a bit murky, there was the general perception that there had been a a number of generations of computer design and the accompanying operating methods.

And the Defense Department, in part to meet the Japanese challenge, began a huge long-term program to develop intelligent systems, including tanks that could navigate on their own. Now, with a debate in the United States about whether the Government should help American companies compete, the Fifth Generation venture is a reminder that even Japan's highly regarded Ministry of International Trade and Industry can make mistakes in predicting what technologies will be important in the future. Japan's HDTV system, which has been in development for two decades, is now coming to market just as some engineers believe that major shift to digital television technology will make the Japanese analog approach obsolete.

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