The Flattening almost sounds like the next suspenseful blockbusting thriller. In fact, Thomas Friedman definitely attempts to make his theory feel that way throughout his book The World is Flat 3.0. He mentions each flattener and convergence like his story is about to reach an apex and even possibly a twist. His method is exciting and interesting, while touching on a topic that I think all of us can relate to. I welcome his call for adaptability. Hopefully the rest of the U.S. can too.
My personal experience with Friedman’s flat world was during a previous job, where they offshored their manufacturing. I was constantly involved with a group of engineers who were trying to design a new locking mechanism that would eventually be mass-manufactured in China. I would initiated a video call where we could not only see and talk to each other, but also share collaborative documents, drawings, and models instantly. Quickly I learned the process of Chinese product development, or lack thereof. We would send a prototype of what we wanted to their chief engineer (who called himself John Wayne), they would send back a jumbled mess that slightly resembled a Picasso interpretation, and we would critique it. Eventually with this back and forth we got close to what we wanted, but something that one of the top engineers said to me comes to mind during our current lesson. “American manufacturers are screwed once the Chinese discover quality engineering.”
Not only does this example demonstrate Friedman’s Offshoring, Uploading, and Steroids, but I think it can expand on his definition of In-forming. I agree that the Information Age is defined by the availability of information, but I believe in-forming also is a repercussion of Offshoring. We definitely sent quite a bit of expertise over to China when we moved our manufacturing and we were still providing them trade secrets when I left. I can see how information, that’s not even available online, has followed businesses in their international transition.
I see Thomas Friedman’s 10 flatteners like any other innovation. According to some the agricultural revolution, industrial revolution, and information revolution are completely natural occurrences in a free market. Innovation or increase in technology will increase the productivity of human capital, which allows for greater investment and growth. However, as Friedman points out, this change is exponential and now we are reaching a time where tremendous technological improvements are happening several times over a person’s lifespan. This causes a problem with adaption. In the U.S. our system to change policy isn’t known as fast. I wonder how we will survive in an international climate where each year, or even month, changes so radically.
http://www.nypress.com/article-11419-flathead.html
