mind bending

I found the book ‘The World Is Flat’ to be very compelling so far. The way I have looked at the book as of now is almost like a future text book of our world history, for many reasons it just shows how our lives have been shaped by the uses and advancement of technology. The technological revolution will be talked about through history as this is when our lives became much easier through growing reliability of technology. I have gained a new found appreciation for the monumental changes that have happened during the last 20 to 30 years. It’s sad to say that I did not learn more about this through my time in k-12.

The use of off-shoring jobs to call centers has always has been explained to me as a bad thing. That being said I have to say I’m happy to hear that the people of India have been able to use it to help them to achieve a better quality of life. The use of off-shoring these jobs have helped to open up new opportunities for those that are state side. Our world is always changing and we cannot be so ignorant to not change with it, this may be easier for me to say being that I’m more of a glass half full person. Our country is always going to evolve and adapt to what is happening in our ability to provide jobs, but so should the people so they do not become overwhelmed by the lack of skills.

Globalization 1.0 shrank the world from a size large to medium. Some of the things that characterized this period were by power and the country stature at the time. This was also the first time that the world started to connect in some form or another. After this happened the question was how our country stacks up against the other powers of the world when it comes to innovation and opportunity. This time period was a real gauge to countries to see what the innovation of technology such as wind power, horsepower and steam power. To better put Globalization 1.0 in perspective, its a time period stated in 1492 until 1800.

Globalization 2.0 started in the 1800s to 2000s, in this time the world shrank from medium to a small. The key this time period was the introduction to multinational companies. This would forever change the world and the way we look at it. The cost of transportation dropped which in tune fueled the fire for this new movement. This time period has helped birth the global economy with the use of the World Wide Web, satellites and fiber-optic cable. The only thing that could slow the growth in 2.0 was the wars and the Great Depression.

Globalization 3.0 started in the 2000s and is still in progress, this time has again shrank the world from a size small to a size tiny and also flattened and leveled the playing field. This time period has empowered a new demographic of people. This has given people the power to be able to team up or compete against a new set of up and coming countries, such as India and China. Many people have been able to capitalize with these new opportunities. Some of the ways people have cashed in on are offshore jobs such as call centers.

 Globalization 1.0 and 2.0 is different than 3.0 in the fact that it is driven by mostly the U.S and Europe. The difference in Globalization 2.0 and 1.0 was that it was able to make companies be able to go globally unlike Globalization 1.0. Also the introduction to the industrial Revolution set the pace of what was to come in the future of Globalization 2.0. One of the biggest differences of the three periods was that 3.0 was the only one that truly leveled the playing field not just shrank it. To say that there is a difference in all 3 is an understatement, my understanding is that by the time we reached Globalization 3.0 people started to really have a voice in the outcome of what is to come. In 1.0 there was not one person that could make the changes to their lives like in 3.0. You now can work with people half a world away from the comfort of your home. In Globalization 2.0 the frame work was made to make business and life correspond from thousands of miles away.

Friedman felt the fall of the wall helped change the view that we can all work together in a globally economy. There was a change that occurred throughout the world by giving everyone the confidence to create a standard of how they could create a global economy. The wall falling had so many positive outcomes, one being the world shift to democracy and free market oriented governance. The wall symbolized a barrier in the idea of the word as a single market, so after the fall many countries could finally see the clarity and reason for a single market.

Netscape is one of the true pioneers in computer developmental software, they gave the world what it needed. That gave a more simplified search engine for people of all ages. The ability that Netscape gave the people was to be able to maximize the internet. Netscape came out with software to help implement an open standard. It made the use of computers and the web much easier to use. Without Netscape there is no guarantee we would be so heavily reliant on computers. They give us the ability for everyone to use a computer, for without them we could be left in a much different scenario then it is today.