The World is Flat

A Newyork Times award winning editor Thomas L. Friedman writes about the new revolution that is changing the face of business today. He asks the pertinent question, "Where were you when the world went flat?" The internet is a powerful channel to bring the world to your door step. In his latest book, The World is Flat, Friedman describes how Xrays of someone in the USA can be read by a radiologist in India, or your travel agent could be someones grand mother sitting at home in a bath robe.

He goes on to explain that the lowering of the trade and political barriers and the fast paced internet revolution has enabled this transformation in the global business environment. The communication lines between people all across the globe have become so cheap that he says

” Today, “individuals and small groups of every color of the rainbow will be able to plug and play.”

He ends his book with a story about Abraham George who started Shanthi Bhavan. A school started for very poor untouchable children of India, who are given a good quality education. George believes that when these children receive a world class education they can aspire for careers that they would never have imagined if they remained in their poor living conditions. The world today needs more people who use their imagination to have a vision for the positive growth for the world, who will bring about the stability that the world needs.

Friedman says that those who live with bad memories of exploitation and terrorism will be those who will continue to imagine ways to unleash their anger. He makes us ponder why some peoples life's path makes them to strive for the joy of destruction, while others journey through the path that leads them through the joy of creation. He says we need people who wake up every morning with new ideas, and are willing to use their imagination to make this a better world.