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August 4, 2006
The World is Flat...
Lately I've been reading a book by Thomas Friedman called, you guessed it, The World is Flat. I haven't finished it but for the most part it discusses how several factors including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the easy to use Windows/Mac home PC and the internet among other factors (haven't got that far yet) are flattening the world as we know it. Friedman believes we are at a point in human history similar to the first cave drawings and the invention of the printing press. I tend to agree with him. We tend to believe that nothing changes greatly when we are alive. But somebody had to be alive when those incredible breakthroughs were invented/discovered/performed. With the internet revolution, think of how many people know have access to more information, the ability to produce and publish their own news, views and opinions. The internet is bringing us together as humans rather than nationalities. This is not to say that everybody is getting along perfectly and a utopian society is in the near future. Far from that. As we can see, hateful groups can just as easily use the internet, just like any tool, for evil and harmful means. The positive side is that people have access to first hand information about what's happening around the world and can weight this in with the compact and politically treated versions that often spout from major news networks with their own political analysts and experts.
The section that I'm currently reading deals with how globalization has reached a new level and how India and China among many non-western societies are becoming much more powerful and intrinsic to the manufacturing and technology industries of tomorrow. It's quite intriguing as they are two countries that represent nearly half of the world's population. With more and more Asians (general term) having better and better education and training it represents a large group of intelligence that will be producing more and more new great ideas and innovation.
The one thing that I'm struggling to grasp is for how long will this great new era last? Offshoring, the process of moving factories overseas or to areas of cheaper labour, seems quite feasible now for lowering costs. It makes sense when you can build it somewhere else for tons cheaper and just ship it back easier as parts for finishing or as a complete product. But how long will cheap shipping last? Brings me back to the last book I read which discussed enivironmental problems and societal collapse. I believe that their are ways to drastically reduce oil consumption if, pardon me, when the crisis strikes. There will be a huge infrastructure change and hydrogen or solar or some new technology will step up and allow people to go to work to travel (maybe not as extensively or as far or as cheaply as before) but life will go on. What I'm really curious about is how are companies that have become globalized going to cope when every single form of long-distance travel and shipping is dependent on oil. You can probably drive cars on hydrogen, that technology isn't more than 30 years off. But what about giant freight ships or jumbo jets? Do you reckon you can use solar power to get people from North America to Australia? Are we looking at another age of sail?
The changes going on allow me to let people back home and around the world see my journeys in Oz, read about my experiences and even to watch me at work on webcam. What will the next great changes bring about?
Posted by Dr.Unk at August 4, 2006 1:06 AM
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