We're sitting by the water's edge. The waves of technology are lapping at our feet, but we have some heavy paddling to do to get out where the big surf will give us the long ride we want. On one side, modern technology has graced Hawai ' i with the opportunity to participate in the fastest-growing segments of the world economy on an equal footing with any other location on Earth. Seizing that opportunity will improve the Islands' economy in profound ways, but it will also require significant changes to aspects of Island life. We could continue for quite a while as a tourism-based economy, but not forever.
Tourism suffers from a nasty feedback loop.
For a tourism-based economy to grow, the number of tourist facilities and services has to grow, too. But the greater the number of hotel rooms, bars, resort condos, restaurants, rental cars, buses, exotic dance clubs and stretch limos here, the less a tropical paradise it will be. Hawai ' i is, the fewer tourists will come. Hawai ' i should be aggressively courting high-tech businesses. Many other states and countries are already doing so.