The ten flatteners of globalization

¶ … Flatteners' in the World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

In his latest, seminal work The World is Flat (2006), author Thomas Friedman provided a "brief history of the 21st century," detailing how, as human society approached this century, technological advancements defined the changes that occurred in societies and cultures all over the world. Friedman brought history not only from Americans' worldview, but more importantly, it also delved deeper into the implications that these technological advancements brought to societies outside of the United States. Ultimately, the author argued that computer-mediated technologies and the Internet changed the way societies all over the world interacted with one another, "flattening" socio-economic (and even political) structures through these new media technologies.

Friedman set the foundation of his discussion of the enormous benefits computer and Internet technologies by introducing the 'ten flatteners' specifically called, "The Ten Forces That Flattened the World." These forces, or flatteners, determined the course of history of the 21st century, and Friedman aptly discussed each flattener in the order of their relevance and/or inception as a new media technology or system. Discussion of the history and relevance of each flattener enlightened the reader on the roots of new media technologies, and how they have evolved from being simple hardware or software to critically influencing the lifestyles of people and the way business is conducted in specific countries, even between countries. Integrating these flatteners is more than just putting together bits of histories critically important to this century; this integration also brings together a complex system of computer and Internet technologies with the aim of discovering yet another innovate way wherein the world can be further flattened and societies can be brought closer to one another.

The ten flatteners were enumerated as follows: (1) 11/9/89-The New Age of Creativity: When the Walls Came Down and the Windows Went Up, (2) 8/9/95- The New Age of Connectivity: When the Net Went Around and Netscape Went Public, (3) Work Flow Software, (4) Uploading, (5) Outsourcing/Y2K, (6) Offshoring, (7) Supply Chaining, (8) Insourcing, (9) In-forming, and (10) The Steroids- Digital, Mobile, Personal, and Virtual.

It would indeed be informative if this book review will discuss each flattener Friedman enumerated. However, it is worthy to note that each flattener addresses one or more human need, and this book review discusses the flatteners based on their relevance and responsiveness to the following human needs: the need to connect, the need for knowledge, the need to become efficient, and the need to want and get what we want as users of these new media technologies. There may be other "needs" that any of the flatteners could address or respond to, but this review will focus on these four (4) needs, as they are recurring themes discussed in the book. Ultimately, these needs became the motivators and catalysts to the development of new technologies, structures, and systems (social, economic, and political) of countries/societies in the 21st century.

The human need to connect with others is the most innate: as humans, there will always be the urge to at least relate to another individual. The Internet, through computer technology as its medium, paved the way for people to start connecting all over the world. In 11/9/89 and 8/9/95, Friedman narrated that the Internet was developed mainly as touch points or venue through which scientists from different parts of the world can share their researches quickly and easily. While the inception of Internet may be considered too 'academic' and 'rational' in its beginnings, the eventual development of Netscape as the "first commercial browser" reflected the need to not just connect for gains or benefits, but also to explore the 'connectivity' possibilities that the Netscape could provide as a commercial Internet browser (65). And as an effective metaphor to this human need to connect, the fall of the Berlin Wall that Friedman reminisced about in 11/9/89 illustrated that the human need to connect is innately strong, it can break down physical and psychological barriers put up between and among people. The human need to connect flattened the 21st century-world because it enabled new media users to "break" the wall that separated one person from another, especially if geographical distance is the wall that separates these people.

As all these human needs are connected with each other, it is not surprising then, that the human need to connect is inherently connected with the human need for knowledge. In 11/9/89, the Berlin Wall fell because it prevented people from physically knowing and hearing about worlds that existed beyond the wall. In 8/9/95, Netscape was launced and made public because it would not only connect people with each other, but its usage would generate "more incentive…to create content and applications and tools" (64). Work Flow Software, Uploading, and In-forming were further developments that negotiated people's need for knowledge -- whether they are free and readily available or not. Work Flow Software satisfied people's need for knowledge as it allowed information to travel seamlessly through integrated networks. Uploading and In-forming, however, paved the way for (selected) new media technologies to remain "open" and continuously expanding, respectively. Uploading allowed users to treat information not just as a simple commodity, but actually as a social capital that must be shared and improved on. It also brought people together ("online communities"), uniting them in achieving a common goal, which was to keep the Internet an open venue where applications, programs, and other tools can be accessed and used for free, as in the case of the developers/programmers of Apache and Linux (101, 107). In-forming gave power to users as they can easily use and manipulate information, just as it was easy for them to access this information. This flattener made ever-expanding knowledge "at your fingertips" a reality, as more and more individuals and groups used different applications and programs to upload information, for information's sake. These flatteners are breakthroughs in that they changed the way businesses manipulated technology and information for profit, while individuals and small groups became empowered simply by their ability to influence, and consequently, empower others, through information. Free sofware and applications leveled the field at which businesses and individuals can use and manipulate information, and share or sell it to others.