Economics: the World Is Flat

Changes In The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, Friedman insinuates that politics, globalization, and technology are rapidly changing the world. Friedman warns the public that America is not ready for these changes and should try to embrace them. I thoroughly enjoyed Friedman’s references to the advancements in technology. It opened my eyes and made me realize how far our civilization has truly come in such a short time period. Friedman believes that the dot-com boom played a crucial role in making the world flat. With the aid of technology, workers and people around the globe may now interact with each other without using face-to-face communication. Telecommunication companies such as Global Crossing ,funded by naive investors, connected different places such as Bangalore and Beijing to the already highly developed industrial countries. Programs such as Facebook and instant messaging have given companies the freedom to communicate faster and to try to appeal to the masses. “Work flow platforms” was a software that enabled various computer applications to easily work together. A perfect example of this comes from Netscape, a browser that accidentally became accessed to by the public on August 9th, 1995. This software gave rise to the boom of the Internet and changed the world. Friedman also hints that although the United States are becoming quite technologically savvy, they need more inspiration in order to be even more successful. For example, Friedman makes references to how “ creative imagination” will make people “get ahead.” Although companies seem to be working perfectly with technology right now, more innovative programs and applications may enable the companies to thrive even more. I found Friedman’s “Ten forces that Flattened the World” quite intriguing. Friedman considers uploading the “most destructive force of all”, which is something that I normally wouldn’t assume. However, Friedman argues that because uploading gives people the freedom