Extra-Credit Assignment: The World Is Flat

When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be really boring. At certain times during the book, I was right. However, I am glad that I read it because the interesting and important points in this book make it worth reading. In addition, I learned a lot about how different our world is today compared to the 19th century thanks to technology. As Friedman says, we are now in the period Globalization 3.0, which is much different from Globalization 2.0 and 1.0. This new period of globalization is making our world flatter because of several contributing factors such as the internet, outsourcing, insourcing, and supply-chaining. What Friedman means when he says that the world is getting flatter is that the playing field is being leveled so that more and more people all over the world can compete in the global economy.
I found Friedman’s explanation about how the world’s economy can sustain itself very important. He said that if the world does go flat, America will have to create more new jobs as more and more simple jobs get outsourced to China, and therefore, more jobs in China will eventually get outsourced to another country, and etc. This means that as the world gets flatter, Americans are going to have to think more carefully about choosing jobs that won’t get outsourced or get replaced by technology, and a good solution to this problem is to think up new jobs that fit in those two categories. So in a “flat world”, its important for Americans to find a passion for something that they are good at because kids in India and China will be able to replace them in the global economy as the playing field is leveled. Lastly, we all need to be flexible to change because in a flat world, jobs are constantly being changed or outsourced, so how we learn is an important quality.
In the chapter called the “Quiet Crisis”, Friedman emphasizes that America is slowly slipping in the economy because more and more countries are becoming more competitive while we are becoming more and more lazy. While many Asian countries are stressing education, we are becoming more geared towards having fun. And if less and less Americans receive a lower education than other parts of the world, our standard of living can certainly drop. I thought this was slightly depressing because since America is at the top of the world right now, we should fight to stay at the top rather than ease our way along and drop down in the global economy.
Another chapter I thought was important is called “The Unflat World”. This chapter talks about the people who aren’t a part of the flat world yet. One of the most interesting parts of this chapter was when Friedman was talking about why the Arab-Muslim world is having trouble. First of all, many Arab-Muslim countries in the Middle-East are authoritarian and their rulers are able to stay in power because of the importance of oil to the economy rather than the importance of people to the economy. Friedman explains that countries with less natural resources tend to rely on the people to keep their economy going, but if this is not the case, then leaders won’t think about what the people want. Many Muslims are frustrated by their lack of freedom, so terrorism easily developed. Al-Qaeda was able to function well with the quiet support of many Arabs and Muslims because many Arabs and Muslims felt humiliated by America and the rest of the world for being so far ahead of them. However, the only way they can catch up with the rest of the world is to change, which many Middle-Eastern countries are reluctant to do.
Last of all, to sum up the book, Friedman explains that we need to use our imaginations in a good way and get more people to think innovatively for the good of the world rather than think of how to destroy the world.