[FOUNTAIN]Dominance by ‘nomadic’ thinking?

The whereabouts of the tomb of Genghis Khan, the greatest conqueror in the history of mankind, is the greatest mystery in history as well. After his death in 1227, Mongolians kept the location of his tomb confidential because of possible robbery, and it has not been located to date.
Recently, a joint team from Japan and Mongolia discovered a ruin that is presumed to be the Great Ordo, a palace, of Genghis Khan. According to historical records, Genghis Kahn’s tomb is within a 12-kilometer radius of the Great Ordo, so the chance of finding the tomb has improved greatly. In 1995, The Washington Post declared Genghis Kahn the most important historical figure in the second millennium. The reason was that he opened the global era for the first time by allowing people to cross the continents. In his lifetime, he conquered more land than the combined territory of Alexander the Great, Napoleon and Hitler.
Genghis Khan is a symbol of a nomadic culture. Unlike the settled civilizations based on hierarchal, agricultural societies, the hunting-oriented nomadic culture has a horizontal way of thinking.
Kim Jong-rae, author of “CEO Genghis Khan,” points out that the thinking of nomadic people is not spacially oriented but time and speed-oriented. He cites the way dogs are kept around a home. Rather than leashing the animal, as in a settled society, Mongolians would take a short piece of rope and tie up one of the legs, restricting the dog’s speed and timing.
Many scholars claim that the age of nomads will return in the 21st century. In the era of the Internet, the spacially oriented thinking of settlers will be outdone by the nomadic thinking of pursuing an open society. Samsung Economic Research Institute proposed “Digital Khan” as a keyword for the rebound of the Korean economy.
Boasting one of the world’s most extensive digital infrastructures and dynamics, Koreans can dominate cyberspace as Genghis Khan did with physical space. Genetically, 80 percent of Koreans have nomadic genes. The characteristic has contributed to Korea’s strength in cyberspace, and we can become the Genghis Khan of the digital world, the institute claimed. In order to achieve the goal, we should create an open society that looks outward instead of inward and pursues the future instead of the past.

by Lee Se-jung
The writer is an editorial writer for the JoongAng Ilbo.