Summary #2

In "The World is Flat" Thomas L. Friedman compares his trip to Bangalore, India to Christopher Columbus's trip to America. He does, however, find one difference: when Columbus sailed to America he discovered that the world is round and when Friedman flies to India he comes to the conclusion that the world is flat. He comes to this conclusion because he discovers that the "playing field is being flattened." (427). Technology has produced equal opportunities for people all over the world and has made the time it takes for someone in a different country to do something for someone else much faster. This realization makes the author nervous and excited at the same time. He is nervous because it allows terrorists to converse faster, easier and with more people around the world. On the other hand, Friedman also views this as a positive thing because as he says, "what the flattening of the world means is that we are now connecting all the knowledge centers of the planet into a single global network, which - if politics and terrorism do not get in the way - could usher an amazing era of prosperity and innovation." (428). He is saying that globalization will allow us new and faster ways of improvement. Friedman explains how each of his three eras of globalization are different than the last and how each era makes the world smaller and flatter He goes on to express how the last era changed "rules, roles and relationships more quickly than we could have imagined." (438). Friedman believes that our task now, due to this inevitable actualization, is to absorb this change in a way that is not overwhelming but that does not leave people behind.