Thomas L. Friedman the author of “The World is Flat”, believes that there are ten flatteners. According, to Friedman these flatteners help to even out and equalize the worlds playing powers. According to Friedman, “the world has been flattened by the convergence of ten major political events, innovations, and companies” (51).Because of these flatteners, it is a fair game for anyone now. The first three flatteners Friedman, refers to as the platform for the flattening world. And the first three flatteners are responsible for the emergence of the last six.
The first flattener is referred to as: The new age of Creativity: When the walls came down and the Windows Went Up. The wall refers to the Berlin Wall, while Windows refers to the Windows PC. The Fall of the Berlin wall brought the balance of power closer “towards those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance” and took the power further away from those that advocated “authoritarian rule” (Friedman, 52). The fall of the Berlin Wall, was freedom and it caused other outbreaks of freedom “each stimulated another outbreak, and that process … had a flattening effect across societies”.
The windows powered PC, now allowed content to be shared across the world. According to Friedman the Internet now gave people reach and scale. People now had more reach because content could now be created in so many different and new ways. The world now had more scale, because people could now share their content with many more people. I remember growing up, and going to the computer lab every year since kindergarten to learn how to use the computer.
The Second flattener is referred to as The New Age of Connectivity: When the Web went Around and Netscape went Public. I remember getting my first computer. I was in the seventh grade. I was very excited because all of my friends had already had their “new” computers, and were now talking to each other through AOL. I believed it was so fascinating how I could talk to my friends over the computer, and I found it even more fascinating that I could talk to people across the globe if I really wanted to.
The third Flattener is Work Flow Software. This flattener brought about more transmission protocols, and languages, “that would ensure that everyone’s e-mail and software applications could connect seamlessly with everyone else’s e-mail software” (Friedman, 81). Programmers were focusing on creating software that would enable people to maximize the efficiency of computers as people worked with “digitized data, words, music, and pictures, and shaped them into products” (Friedman, 81). This allowed companies to send email and document internally with out any worries, next software was developed so you wouldn’t have to worry about what computers other companies had, and information could be sent anywhere without any worry. Once everyone was connected to each other without a worry information could now be sent anywhere faster and more conveniently then ever before. Information could now be “sent to the four corners of the world as never before” (Friedman, 83).
The fourth flattener is Uploading. Uploading allows people to download programs off of websites for free. Friedman calls is “community developed software” (94). Uploading is very controversial in some ways. For instance, in many young American lives downloading music, often illegally, is made possible by free uploaded programs they have downloaded. “This newfound power...to send up, out, and around their own products and ideas, often for free, rather than just passively downloading them from commercial enterprises…is reshaping the flow of creativity innovation, political mobilization, and information gathering” (Friedman, 95). Another very common way this flattener is affecting my life is through the use of sources like Wikipedia. Wikipedia, is a great source for information and learning. At one point, until just recently anyone could add information no matter how reliable or not reliable this was. This led to student sometimes turning in false information, which they may have thought was correct. Uploading, is an important part of many students lives. It can help us upload programs that can help us excel in school, or update programs we already have at the price all students love: free! Not only can uploading help with school many other things can be uploaded; games, music, movies, and so much more entertainment can be uploaded. Yes, some of it is illegal, but if you look hard enough you can find games and other entertainment that is not illegal to upload.
The Fifth Flattener is Outsourcing. If a company is to outsource, it is taking a limited section of itself like research, call centers, or accounts payable and having another company do them. An example of outsourcing the Friedman uses is the outsourcing companies did around the 2000, during the Y2K. They wanted to get the computers fixed as quickly as possible, and for a little money possible, “so they started to work with Indian [technology] companies who they might not have worked with otherwise” (Friedman 132). By outsourcing companies were now able to break even or become profitable sooner.
Offshoring, is the sixth flattener, that Friedman shares with us. Offshoring became much more common once the Chinese joined the World Trade Organization Offshoring is “when a company takes on of its factories…and moves the whole factory offshore” (Friedman 138). By doing this a company can produce the very same product. The products are made in the same way, with cheaper labor lower taxes, less energy, and lower health care costs.
Friedman lists flattener seven as supply-chaining. Friedman had never seen what a supply chain looked like until he had visited the Wal-Mart headquarters. It was 1.2 million-square-foot, which was continuously working and 24-7. “As consumers, we love supply chains, because they deliver us all sorts of good – from tennis shoes to laptop computers – at lower and lower prices and tailored more and more precisely to just what we want” (Friedman 155). With all of the great things chains have to offer, there are also aspects that are not as pleasant. Friedman continued to use Wal-Mart as an example and pointed out things such as, “locking over night workers into its stores, using illegal immigrants as janitors, its role in the largest civil-rights class-action lawsuit in history, to its refusal to stock certain magazines – like Playboy – on its shelves, even in small towns where Wal-Mart is the only major store” (Friedman 163). Supply-Chains like Wal-Mart, help to keep food and snacks in my room at school at low inexpensive prices. Whether a chain like Wal-Mart or food chain like Taco Bell, or restaurant like Chili’s, they all have one thing in common. They make good products, affordable to everyone, even college students like me.
The eight flattener – What the Guys in Funny Brown Shorts are Really Doing – is about UPS’s effects on flattening the playing field. Friedman had been advised to add UPS and FedEx as a flattener. He did not think anything about it until Friedman was in China and saw a commercial for UPS’s new slogan that said “Your World Synchronized”. UPS is now “synchronizing global supply chains for companies big and small” (Friedman 167). I learned this first hand this summer when I worked for a new and very small whole sale/drug distribution company called Lifeline Pharmaceuticals. Lifeline Pharmaceuticals handled drugs for serious illnesses such as cancer, HIV, and we used UPS to distribute the medicine across the country, and to other Countries.
Google, Yahoo!, MSN web search – is how Friedman named the ninth flattener. This flattener was described at its best with the Google user testimonials at the beginning of the flatteners section. It described a woman who through Googling found out that her friends new love interest was arrested for felony assault, a person who used the Google translation service, and a woman who found her long lost brother by searching on Google. For me though, Google, helps me with homework, or finding a good restaurant. Search engines provide me with a wealth of knowledge all with the push of a couple of keys.
The last of the ten flatteners is The Steriods: Digital, Mobile, Personal, and Virtual. These things take all of the first nine flatteners to the next level. Not only do we have access of the internet and the other nine flatteners online at a computer, but through our laptop, or phone. The “steroids” allow us to get information virtually anywhere, and anytime we would like.
I enjoyed Friedman’s writings. He made me realize so many things that I take for granted each day. It also made me realize how these things I take for granted are changing the way the world lives, communicates, and works. This report made me look at the things I use on a daily bases in a different way. I now longer look at these things as devices I use. I now see the things I use and participate in as things that are helping to flatten the playing field even more as use them.
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