revised response paper to The World is Flat, chapters 1 & 2

Response Paper to The World is Flat Reading

“What could be flatter, I asked myself, than a free-trade agreement sealed using flat-screen TVs?” (Page 44)

That one line out of the entire book, The World is Flat, had me thinking more than any line. Our world is becoming so “flat” that we are advancing in a manner that forces us to focus on improvement. It seems as though we cannot step back to enjoy or admire what we have accomplished or what is around us, because we must persevere. We must keep moving, creating, and discovering. We ignore the “3-D” world around us and crave the “2-D” screens and electronic appliances that are helping us every day. This up and coming generation, this world as a whole, we are satisfied with a virtual world, as long as it eases our struggle to gather what we want and need. We are satisfied with a virtual world as long as it eases our daily routine. If all is easy, we are eliminating all challenges for ourselves. What if we reached a point of no more difficulty, no more challenge? Would we be pleased? Our world wants to be completely submerged in knowledge and accessibility. As long as we can have our own questions answered easily, we are satisfied, to an extent. Page 44 states that UBS Services use the phrase “Everywhere and right next to you” in a commercial. I feel that the “flattening” of the world is what we want, knowledge from everywhere, and right next to us.

“Everywhere and right next to us.” Those six words show how enveloped in technology this world is, how needy we are, and how controlled we love to be. In addition to the control and benefits that we long for, we also want quick and increasing improvements. We aren’t just demanding an easier life, we are demanding that it gets here soon.

“If the prospect of this flattening… makes you uneasy about the future, you are neither wrong nor alone…There is something about the flattening of the world that is going to be qualitatively different from the great changes of previous eras: the speed and breadth with which it is taking hold...This flattening process is happening at warp speed and directly or indirectly touching a lot more people on the planet at once.” (Page 49)

The speed of this transition, of the flattening, is unlike any of this world’s past experiences. The fact that it is so different than any past “fundamental shift” and affecting everyone world wide at a rapid rate, causes the fear of the “unknown” to be on a greater scale that we have not yet been able to comprehend completely. Our comfort with the 2-D may come from the lack of other options. We must be comfortable with this transition or else we will be overwhelmed. We will be overtaken.

Ever since I was little, I’ve always wondered what people who lived through new, life-changing inventions and/or memorable time periods thought about. I didn’t think that they could fathom something smaller than a vinyl record, something more vivid than “I Love Lucy”, or something more portable than a boom box. It seemed as though they were satisfied with their current “toys” and entertainment and were amazed when something new came about. I’ve never seen or heard about the side of them that constantly craved the need technological advancement. I feel as though this is where we, the people of 2009, differ. I feel that we expect more and are not fully pleased. This could be due to the speed at which we receive these electronics and their new editions. Forty years ago, technological advancements were not released so rapidly. Our past generations may have felt the same way when they sat on that brown circle rug in front of their bulky, black and white, bunny-eared, television set, but I’ll never know.

We are a bundle of mixed emotions. We are scared and uneasy, and we hide those feelings with comfort, with satisfaction in our 2-D, virtual world. Yet, at the same time, we cannot stop moving. We can not stop advancing further and further into a “flatter” world. “And that is why the great challenge for our time will be to absorb these changes in ways that do not overwhelm people or leave them behind. None of this will be easy. But this is our task. It is inevitable and unavoidable.” (Page 50)

‘“We believe that the mobile phone will become the essential controller of a person’s life,” added Mitsuishi, oblivious of the double meaning of the English word “control”.’ (Page 196) We are being controlled, and at times we do not even realize it. We look to our mobile phones, our TVs, our computers to help us when we are short on answers.

Alan Cohen, the vice president of Airespace, and his wise words, “Google is like God. God is wireless. God is everywhere, and God sees everything. Any questions in the world, you ask Google.” (Page 196)

Who is our God? Who and what is controlling us?

Josh Koenig, co-founder of music for America, says, “Were only seeing the first drips of what is going to be a downpour.” (Page 119)

I personally am “watching I Love Lucy” and playing with my iPhone. I am satisfied, and I am afraid to see the downpour. I cannot comprehend the power that this world is gaining from being “flattened”.