Vol.4 No.4 2012

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−250−Synthesiology - English edition Vol.4 No.4 (2012) Letter from the editorThis issue contains the roundtable discussion with Mr. Hiroshi Kuwahara, former vice-chairman of Hitachi, Ltd. and current honorary advisor of Hitachi Maxell, Ltd., and Editor-in-Chief Ono and Senior Editor Akamatsu of the Synthesiology Editorial Board.Mr. Kuwahara indicates the importance of the “systems” in R&D as the complex of science and technology in all situations, not just the “systemic thinking and systems technology”. Mr. Kuwahara, a former member of the Council for Science and Technology Policy, states it is necessary for the Council to acknowledge Type 2 Basic Research so it would gain wide acceptance.In the article contribution after the roundtable discussion, Mr. Kuwahara addresses the importance of gathering the findings and knowledge that may be important for systems building, of establishing the hypothesis for new technology if it is lacking, and of designing and evaluating the proposals. Also in the contributed article, Editor-in-Chief Ono indicates that proposing and planning through multiple scenarios are necessary to realize an artifact that one wishes to create. The two authors both point out that it is necessary to formulate and verify a systemic hypothesis to create an artifact that is valuable to society. That is the essence of “systems and synthesiology”.As I wrote in the “Letter from the Editor” in the previous issue, an artifact operates and exerts its function in the environment of a real society, is traded on the market, and fulfills individual utility. Unless those conditions are met, an object is merely an artificial thing that may not generate value. I also wrote that the value is not simply market diffusion, but also includes social acceptance and cultural ripple effect, and the value is social because its essence is “spread”. The four papers published in this issue are strongly related to market diffusion and social acceptance, and are written in anticipation of generating social value.One question arises here. That is, can “social value” be a subject of synthesiology? The synthesized artifact is an output into society, while the real society that receives the input is full of imperfect information. The value cannot be determined beforehand, but the value is synthesized socially. As the network externality spreads further in society today, perhaps the “synthesis of value” may be the challenge for Synthesiology. Editor Kanji Ueda

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