In the late 1990s, when the Internet was just beginning to transform education, Masakazu Karita and Tetsuo Shimada presented two papers, "Enabling Internet Students to Enthusiastically Compare Cultural Values" and "Culturally Different Criteria for Decision-making." Their work was based on the hopeful belief that the Internet could become a powerful medium through which people from different cultures would learn to understand one another by comparing their different values and decision-making criteria. At the same time, however, it carried a warning: if people failed to make the effort to understand one another's cultural perspectives, technology alone would not create peace or mutual understanding.

Looking back nearly three decades later, this warning appears remarkably relevant. The Internet, once expected to unite humanity, has instead often been transformed into a system that reinforces division. Social media algorithms encourage people to remain within echo chambers where their own beliefs are continually confirmed while opposing viewpoints are excluded. Rather than encouraging dialogue, online platforms frequently reward outrage, confrontation, and ideological certainty.

Political leaders around the world have increasingly ignored the historical and cultural criteria that shape other societies' decisions. Whether in conflicts in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, or other regions, governments often prioritize domestic political interests and nationalism over genuine intercultural understanding. Ironically, this is precisely the kind of one-sided imposition of values that those early studies warned against.

The broader culture has also changed. During the late 1990s, television programs such as Koko ga Hen da yo Nihonjin ("That's Strange About the Japanese") openly brought together people from different cultural backgrounds to exchange conflicting opinions face-to-face. Although the discussions were often emotional, they reflected a genuine curiosity about different ways of thinking. Today, such programs have largely disappeared, replaced by media that tend either to avoid difficult intercultural discussions or to amplify simplified conflicts.

At the same time, society has increasingly embraced values centered on efficiency, cost performance ("cospa"), and speed ("time performance" or "taipa"). Deep conversations that require patience, empathy, and careful listening are often regarded as inefficient. As a result, the willingness to understand another person's cultural criteria has gradually weakened.

This cultural transformation is reflected not only in politics and education but also in popular culture. During the 1980s and early 1990s, singers such as Akina Nakamori expressed profound loneliness, vulnerability, and the emotional complexity of human relationships. Her songs portrayed love, loss, and the courage to remain emotionally honest despite suffering. They represented aspects of humanity that cannot be measured by efficiency or economic value.

As mobile phones, digital communication, and later social media became central to everyday life, communication grew faster but often more superficial. Constant connectivity reduced opportunities for quiet reflection and deep emotional engagement. The cultural atmosphere gradually shifted from enduring emotional depth toward convenience, immediacy, and measurable efficiency.

Perhaps the question is not simply where technology changed society, but where society chose convenience over understanding. The Internet itself was never destined either to unite or divide humanity. It became a mirror reflecting the values that people collectively encouraged. If efficiency, profit, and self-interest become the highest priorities, technology naturally amplifies those values. If empathy, curiosity, and intercultural dialogue become our priorities instead, the same technology could still serve the original vision imagined during the early years of the Internet.

The ideas presented in 1998 therefore remain highly relevant today. Understanding culturally different criteria for decision-making is not merely an academic subject; it is an essential foundation for peace, education, and the future of global civilization.