807 



-31- 



endowments, of more accurate annual predictions of agricultural production 

 domestically and Internationally? Undoubtedly, these issues will move more 

 centrally on the international political agenda. 



3. Interfacing of National Technological Systems 



Many national systems — aircraft, communications, weather observation, 

 finance, banking, postal — are basically information systems and require 

 interfacing with counterparts in other nations. The explosive development of 

 information technology systems have begun to cause serious strains, and are 

 likely to be even larger causes of strain in the coming years as the 

 technology moves even more rapidly ahead. 



Traditional differences between fields break down (e.g., communications 

 vs. data flows, postal vs. electronic mail, information vs. banking), and the 

 economic calculus of benefits and cost changes perceptibly. Closely tied to 

 that are conflicting philosophies about privacy of information, access to 

 information within nations, the role of central computer banks, the 

 transnational nature of economies of scale, and related issues. The U.S. 

 dominance of the technology serves to make other Western countries wary of 

 allowing unfettered development and application that will leave them in a weak 

 competitive position; the Soviet Union and its allies worry because of the 

 belief that control of information is vital to its political system; the LDC's 

 are concerned because, as in resources, they fear the loss of control over 

 information seen as essential to maintaining independence. 



The dynamic nature of the growth of this technology, and its base in the 

 private sector in the U.S., makes this a particularly difficult issue in which 



