Disregard at your own peril

24 Jun Disregard at your own peril

In his 2005 work Collapse, Jarred Diamond analyzed how societies make decisions that determine their ultimate success or failure. He wrote that these decisions were frequently misguided. The needed solutions, for example, might be beyond their capacities, or exceptionally expensive, or too belated. Misguided decisions were rampant on the introduction of the container and— in many cases— determined success or failure for many states. Containerization requires capital- intensive investments that many industry leaders and government officials rejected, for a variety of reasons, including lack of resources or simply a refusal to implement new technologies and processes. Indeed, container technology has greatly advanced global trade and brought wealth to cities, regions, and nations that have invested in it. Technological developments in transportation, such as containerization, have a strong tendency to be geographically concentrated. Time- space convergence affects some places more than others. The world’s leading national economies and major cities are being pulled closer together, while other less- developed economies and cities are being left behind.