Amidst the contention between the U.S., China, and Google (now almost a country on its own in the cyberspace), I ponders about the future of the Internet.

When Google announced the end of Google.cn on February 12, 2010, I asked a Chinese friend of mine for his response. He said merrily, "If they want to go, let them go!" In the U.S., however, many non-Chinese, including several of my colleagues at U.C. Irvine, have believed that the Chinese government did orchestrate the hacking attacks.

Introducing China to Americans, is as hard as introducing the U.S. to a Chinese. I, an in between, was born and raise in Singapore--the only Chinese majority country outside of China--and speaks Chinese at home and English in school and at work. Even I took many years to understand the American culture, and I had only seem to understood the Chinese, after reading its histories and made trips to the country, at least enough to appreciate the differences between the two countries

The truth is that, instead of the world being a one homogeneous and democratic piece--a world made in the image of the U.S.--the world is becoming more like a mosaic. We have seen, though, that even between countries as hugely dissimilar as the U.S. and China, citizens can prosper through trade and cooperation. U.S now depended on China for finance, human talents, and affordable supplies of materials. China depends on U.S. to develop its markets, and leadership in innovation. I do think that the world is better off than before.

But conflicts between cultures are also mounting. In particular, when any of these two biggies are discussing anything "emotional" or "philosophical": being good or evil, being democratic or not, whether Taiwan is a country, whether censorship is good or not, why should Tibet be independent, we experience a tendency to take sides and view the other as imperialistic or autocratic.

Perhaps an effect of the Internet and the rise of popular media is that ideology is now as important as business as usual. Google's motto: Don't be evil, is a testimony of companies shifting its priorities in the appeasement of the crowd.

I do think that the mosaic is beautiful, but one has to stand far to avoid paying too much attention to the cracks.