Module 1

Jacob Ready

1/5/2012

IST 1100

Module 1

The difference that I thought were important that Friedman talked about in his book between globalization 1.0 was that countries and governments are the main protagonists. Globalization 1.0 is more the like Cold War and Embargos where as it is a small group in globalization 2.0 there was the boom of the stock market, Wal-Mart, Business go to war with nations. Globalization 3.0 is more of the Web and anyone who wants to be involved can now be.  Globalization 3.0 made the individual much more important part of what happens and now everyone and anyone can be connected at anytime.  Reading this made my mind think how much has changed in my lifetime. It is almost scary to think about what I would do if I didn’t have my cell phone around and how difficult it would be to travel around during the golf season here at Weber State and not be able to communicate with teachers through e-mail and text messages.  Globalization is the increasingly global relationships of culture people and economic activities. Globalization is a huge part of life now and has completely changed the way that business is performed.  The story that most scared me in the book was the McDonalds that were having people ordering their meals from a call center from thousands of miles away.  It amazed me how we are outsourcing at our fast food restaurants in order to save money.  The other form of outsourcing that amazed me as well is how we have  companies that send reports and information to India where people will do all the work that needs to be done in the money be done there and send back while the businessman is sleeping here in the U.S. One of the main points in this book that Friedman thought was very important was the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Friedman called the flattener, “When the walls came down, and the windows came up.” The event not only symbolized the end of the Cold Was it allowed people from the other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream.  He talks about the Berlin Wall coming down and how is the fall of communism and the impact the personal computer had on the ability of individuals to create their own content and connect to one another. At that point the basic platform for the revolution to follow was created: IBM PC, Windows, a standardized graphical interface for word processing, it was a standardized form of communication.  The most important point that that Freidman talked about was when Netscape came out it took the world to a completely different level.  It broadened the audience from the internet from its roots as a communications medium primarily by only early adopters and geeks, to something that made the internet accessible to everyone from five-year-olds to ninety-five-year-olds. The digitization that took place meant that everyday occurrences such as words, files, films, music, and pictures could be accessed and manipulated on a computer screen bu all people across the world.

In conclusion I think that what the book The World is Flat is very interesting and I am enjoying reading it.  I am learning a lot about how the world has changed in a short amount of time.  Friedman does a very good job of showing how much the world has changed and how the world is now outsourcing to India and many other foreign countries.  Friedman’s interpretations of the events that have occurred I feel are spot on such as the Berlin wall falling and it allowing the world to be free to join the economic mainstream. We are seeing now how the U.S. isn’t just staying within the boundaries of our own country but we are expanding and sharing with other countries.  I’m looking forward to learning a lot more about how we are expanding and how we are all connected.