I have found Thomas L. Friedman’s: The World Is Flat to be a great read and very interesting. His conception of technology making our world a flat one is very interesting. One of the key points Friedman discussed is the different eras of Globalization and how they affected the world.
The first globalization, or Globalization 1.0 began with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and his historical journey west to test his theory that the earth was actually round and to find an alternate trade route to India. He was able to prove his theory correct and in the process discovered a whole new continent and opened trade between the old world and the new world. In essence, Globalization period 1.0 took the world from a size large to a size medium. Countries began to look at where they fit into global competition and opportunities, and how they could use the resources they had to be part of a bigger world economy. This all began to break down walls and knit the world together. This era lasted until the year 1800 when Globalization 2.0 began.
The Globalization 2.0 era lasted roughly from the year 1800 to the year 2000, minus the time periods during the great depression and both world wars. According to Friedman, this era shrank the world from a size medium to a size small. The driving force of this second globalization era was multinational companies. It started with the Dutch and English joint-stock companies as well as with the Industrial Revolution. The first half was based around falling transportation costs credited to the invention of the steam engine and the railroad. The second half was based around falling telecommunication costs thanks to the PC, telephone, satellites, fiber optic cables and the introduction of the internet. A lot happened during era 2, and the beginning was drastically different from the end. By the end there were far more efficient ways to travel, trade goods, and communicate, walls had come down, some literally, and there was indeed a world economy. Every Country that was a part of this economy had to see where they fit in and how they could contribute.
Around the year 2000 we entered Globalization phase 3.0, this era has shrunk the world from a size small to a size tiny and has flattened out the playing field. This latest era has seen the rise of personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This era is based more around what individuals are able to accomplish and the amount of information any one individual can access at any time, it is a very empowering era. Workflow software made it possible for companies to collaborate on the same digital content from anywhere in the world. Something that wasn’t mentioned in the book because it is a few years old is the rise of cloud computing, I could go to an entirely different part of the world and pull up my Google account and have my email, music, pictures, school assignments, calendar, and many other things tied to it. That concept has definitely made the world a “tiny” place.
So the major differences when comparing the three eras would be that the first era was about countries globalizing, the second era was about companies globalizing, and the third era was and is about individuals globalizing. Of course each era had its own technological, mechanical, economical, and sociological advancements that made them unique but the big picture comparison is what organizations or entities were globalized.
When Friedman talked about the Berlin Wall coming down I found it very inciteful and interesting. Of course the fall of the Berlin Wall was huge for Germany and for The Soviet Union, communism stifles growth and innovation, it just creates a lot of equally poor people as Friedman put it. So when the wall came down, obviously those countries were very heavily impacted. But Friedman points out that at that instant, when the wall fell, it meant something to the entire world. In Friedman’s words, “It tipped the balance of power across the world toward those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance, and away from those advocating authoritarian rule with centrally planned economies.” It allowed bottom up economics, controlled by the interests, aspirations, and ideas of the people as opposed to top down economics, ruled and manipulated by corrupt governments. Before the wall fell there were two types of systems in the world, after, there was only one left and everyone was forced to adapt. During the Cold War the influence of the Soviet union and communism was felt all around the world, it wasn’t localized. Many countries, even if their governments weren’t communist, still often had elements of it that buried the private sector in regulations that slowed economic growth. To put it simply, when the wall fell, it created a ripple effect that was felt worldwide and a huge shift began, a new era began, back towards capitalism and democracy.
I feel that the story of Netscape is so important because its’ creators helped pioneer open protocols and open standards in the internet world which paved the way for what the internet is today. The story also illustrates the evolution of technology and shows a company thinking of more than just making a profit, they were looking at the bigger picture.
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