Optimization is effective in areas where rationality is the highest value, but it tends to have a negative impact on values ​​that do not consider rationality absolute. This point is also relevant when promoting regional revitalization that is distinct from urban revitalization. The key is balancing values ​​that prioritize rationality and values ​​that do not consider rationality absolute. (Kei Kitajima)

Coco Klum, author of “Optimization Illusion: Why Efficiency Doesn’t Make People Happy,” was originally a data scientist active in Silicon Valley and an engineer well-versed in the ins and outs of optimization. However, she later struggled with the gap between the ideal and reality caused by optimization and distanced herself from Silicon Valley.
Optimization is a mechanism for organizing physical reality, but the further optimization deviates from reality, the more it betrays humanity.

Nevertheless, there seems to be a degree of weariness with the Silicon Valley mindset that firmly believes optimization is the solution to the problems it brings.
The book cites the example of Starbucks. While the company is closing stores worldwide, its drive-thru and pre-order services are thriving, and it’s not experiencing business failure. However, as a result of thoroughly optimizing its supply chain, customers no longer perceive Starbucks as the “third place” that was once its motto.
The Starbucks case highlights the significant divergence between the demand for a streamlined supply chain and the demand for fulfilling human connections, making it extremely difficult to balance these two demands.
Optimization is effective in areas where rationality is the highest value, but it tends to have a negative impact and cause disadvantages in areas where rationality is not absolute, such as religion, art, or community. To reconcile values ​​that prioritize rationality above all else with values ​​that do not consider rationality absolute, a new intermediate realm is necessary. This book poses the question of how to find this new intermediate realm in a situation where we have become accustomed to optimization and are now facing its collapse.

How does this theme translate to the context of Japanese cities and regions?

Urban areas, such as Tokyo, likely prioritize rationality above all else and relentlessly pursue optimization.

Regional areas continue to uphold values ​​that do not consider rationality absolute, but many of these regions are exhausted and on the verge of extinction.

If this trend continues, as AI predicts, most regions will disappear, and Japan will transition to an “extreme society” where the population is concentrated only in major metropolitan areas such as the Tokyo metropolitan area, Tokai, and Kansai.

People will inevitably find themselves in a highly optimized society. As long as optimization functions normally, they can live reasonably comfortable lives, but as mentioned earlier, excessively efficient and optimized systems will eventually collapse. The more we push for efficiency and optimization to avoid collapse, the more people’s freedom narrows, the more stifling their sense of security becomes, and the closer we get to the breaking point. The friction gradually spreads, leading to a sudden collapse. From this perspective, the collapse of an extreme society is inevitable, and in extreme terms, the collapse of an extreme society means the destruction of Japan. Regions have already disappeared, and if an extreme society collapses, there will be nowhere left in Japan for people to relocate.

To avoid such a tragedy, we must seriously consider the question of how to find a new intermediate realm in a situation where we have become accustomed to optimization and are now facing its collapse.

I believe that a new intermediate realm can only be created by revitalizing regions. To revitalize regions, effective optimization efforts, including digital transformation (DX), are absolutely necessary. Since we are incorporating elements of optimization into regions that do not necessarily value rationality as absolute, appropriate consideration is required. As the Starbucks example shows, the value of rationality and the value of not prioritizing rationality are at odds, and balancing these two values ​​is no easy feat.
However, unless we create as many regions as possible in Japan that balance these two values—a new intermediate zone, so to speak—we can only envision a bleak future. Conversely, if we can create this new intermediate zone, we can envision a sustainable and diverse future.
To reiterate, balancing these two values ​​is far more difficult than imagined, and achieving it requires an unyielding spirit as a prerequisite.

※Translating Japanese articles into English with AI