Pancake is a Bad Shape

The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, was not, as you may have guessed, written in the medieval ages. Nor does it refute the physical spherical shape of our planet. Instead, it refers to the global equality which comes through technological advances. It is fantastic to think how technology has increased the quality of life for people all over the world. Yet it is not all fun and games. The social flattening of the world has many negative implications.

The American economy and freedom give opportunity for upward mobility. The joy of living in such a country is that very prospect. The idea that anybody from any background, including the depths of poverty, can start a company, be successful, and change the world with good ideas and hard work, is heart-warming. Yet just as a flat tire slows a car down, a flat world inhibits such small companies from being successful.

Gigantic companies such as WalMart and UPS followed the American success pattern. They started small, but grew to success and world influence. Along the way, they have burned the bridges they crossed to get there. Can you imagine trying to create a retail store chain to compete with WalMart? Starting from nothing in such an area would be nearly impossible now. The competition is too large to compete with.

Similarly, a flat world hurts individual workers in fields like computer science. With cheap communication around the world and cheap technical labor in places like India, it's difficult for American workers to stay competitive. Why would a company pay five times more for an American computer scientist to do the same job as an Indian computer scientist?

The flattening of the world is really all about competition. When a company can outsource to India or offshore to China to do the same job but for much less, they will do it, at the cost of many domestic jobs. In the end, it gives the American consumer the latest technology for a much lower price, but it also gives the same American consumer a much lower paying job. Do the two balance each other out? You decide.