The World is flat
Kassandra Chang
8/21/14
Period 1
APHG Summer Writing assignment
The World is Flat
By: Thomas L. Friedman
1. What is it about the flat world that both excites Friedman and fills him with dread?
Friedman gets excited because the flattening of the world means that we as people who inhabit Earth are collecting all of our knowledge and putting it together into this worldwide network. By doing this we would start to emerge ourselves in an era of prosperity, innovation, and collaboration, by company’s communities, and individuals. Friedman states that is if terrorism and politics do not get in the way. The flattening of the world also fills him with dread both on a personal and professional level. On a more personal level it fills him with dread because with this flat world it not only opens up the playing field for the “software writers and computer geeks” to connect with each other in the workplace, but also opens up opportunities for the AL-Qaeda and many terrorist networks. Everything is being leveled to where anyone can very easily become empowered.
2. What does Friedman mean by Globalization 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0?
In the book Friedman talks about how he means that these three numbers are the specific eras in time that globalization was prevalent. Globalization 1.0 (1492 when Columbus set sail, opening trade between the “Old World” and “New World” until around 1800. This era made the world appear from a large scale to just an average medium scale. The main focus and effect of Globalization 1.0 was the competition between countries over how much muscle, horsepower, wind power, or steam power your country had and how creatively you install and carry this “muscle” out. In this era, countries found inspiration through religion and imperialism. Soon enough time led to the growth of global integration. Globalization 2.0 (around 1800-2000 interrupted by the Great Depression and World Wars). This era shrank the world from the average medium to a very small. The main focus that
8/21/14
Period 1
APHG Summer Writing assignment
The World is Flat
By: Thomas L. Friedman
1. What is it about the flat world that both excites Friedman and fills him with dread?
Friedman gets excited because the flattening of the world means that we as people who inhabit Earth are collecting all of our knowledge and putting it together into this worldwide network. By doing this we would start to emerge ourselves in an era of prosperity, innovation, and collaboration, by company’s communities, and individuals. Friedman states that is if terrorism and politics do not get in the way. The flattening of the world also fills him with dread both on a personal and professional level. On a more personal level it fills him with dread because with this flat world it not only opens up the playing field for the “software writers and computer geeks” to connect with each other in the workplace, but also opens up opportunities for the AL-Qaeda and many terrorist networks. Everything is being leveled to where anyone can very easily become empowered.
2. What does Friedman mean by Globalization 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0?
In the book Friedman talks about how he means that these three numbers are the specific eras in time that globalization was prevalent. Globalization 1.0 (1492 when Columbus set sail, opening trade between the “Old World” and “New World” until around 1800. This era made the world appear from a large scale to just an average medium scale. The main focus and effect of Globalization 1.0 was the competition between countries over how much muscle, horsepower, wind power, or steam power your country had and how creatively you install and carry this “muscle” out. In this era, countries found inspiration through religion and imperialism. Soon enough time led to the growth of global integration. Globalization 2.0 (around 1800-2000 interrupted by the Great Depression and World Wars). This era shrank the world from the average medium to a very small. The main focus that