Good Example Of The World Is Flat Essay

The meaning of the term ‘The World is Flat’ relates to the idea that the global community is now operating on an even playing field. The global economy has leveled, and people from all countries, economies, and nationalities have attained the means to contribute in a similar manner, through all dimensions to the global economy. According to Thomas Friedman, the world is moving toward a more unified and symmetrical method of the economy which involves a creation of collaboration and the use of means which are globally uniting people. Technological measures that are being used in a more progressive and developed part of the world are now being utilized in the developing areas, and knowledge and technology are the constant force which is making the world flatter. He goes on to define how the world has flattened, and he does so by exemplifying three eras of globalization. The first era is called 1.0 which ranges from 1492 lasting till 1892. The size of the world shrunk from ‘size large to medium’ as globalization took place through countries and nation states. Colonies were being made, cultures were being intermixed. The second era 2.0 is from the 1800s to 2000. The size of the world went from medium to small as companies spread globalization through markets and they became the agents of globalization. The third era happens to be 3.0 which ranges from 2000 till the present day. The world has shrunk from a size small to a size tiny. The global playing field has been leveled and is no more built around countries, nations, or companies rather it is built around individuals. Today the world is governed by individuals who connect with one another and form their associations.
Technology has been the biggest flattener in the world whereby it has been accompanied by certain specific flatteners. The personal computer has been a great flattener because it allowed people to author their own content, words, music, videos, data, spreadsheets and virtually everything that could be put out into the world by them was done so with the use of personal computers. Everything was in digital form. Hence bits and bytes became flatteners. Netscape came as another flattener on the face of the world, when the company announced to go public on August 9, 1995. Netscape brought forward the browser, and people were able to illustrate everything that had previously been locked away in websites. The ‘.com’ boom was a visible one and the internet, another flattener, had come to life. The fiber optic cable is another flattener that was collectively funded by the world with the massive use of the internet. The concept of uploading is another flattener because, in the flat world, people tend to upload their thoughts and express themselves through ways such as blogs, YouTube, Twitter, and the biggest one yet, Wikipedia. Thus, these flatteners have changed the structure of the world from a vertical one into a horizontal one.
The skills that workers need to possess today and in the future are the utilization of their creative element since the world today is a very competitive place. Like Friedman says, ‘Whatever can be done, will be done,’ hence skilled workers need to connect with newer technology, understand its importance and produce the better product or commodity since another person in the world might be looking toward making the same product and they might succeed due to a better reach over technology. Jobs today are being outsourced and digitized, which means the internet and digital technology is the new place where skilled workers must utilize their talent or else they will be left behind. A big shift is being seen in terms of the job market and the movement of knowledge from stocks, into flows.