The World Is Flat: Part 1

Brandi Barnett
1/12/13
IST 1100

        I have heard about this book through out the years and never would have thought to get it since I 

heard so much about it already and just by the title of the book I already knew what it would be about. Well 

I was wrong. The author, Thomas L. Friedman, goes in depth on why the world the flat just by the economic 

of it and globalization of the world. Not, just by traveling the world going by distance like Columbus had did 

previously. The author goes on to tell us how major historical events flattened the world. It was interesting 

to read what he had discovered and some things he noted made sense in a way. Certain events can literally 

shape the world. 

  Globalization is the interchange of world views. Friedman breaks down the globalization into three parts 

1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. Friedman, notes that the Globalization 1.0  is the first era went from a small size world to 

about a large size in a matter of minutes. It was all about what kind of muscle you had. It had the power to 

change. Globalization 2.0 was the era of the Great Depression and Cold Wars and introduced us to certain 

companies and took us back to being small and it opened the world to the internet. It was considered the 

global integration.  Globalization 3.0 went from small to tiny and  is all about the individuals and the power 

they hold. 

     The first example he gives is the fall of the Berlin Wall and how it became the center of the world

becoming flat so to speak. The of the Berlin Wall to Thomas L. Friedman, the author, believed it tipped the 

balance of power across the world. With the wall still standing there was two big players at play capitalism 

and communism when the wall fell there was only one power. The fall of the Berlin Wall helped free-market 

capitalism and it also helped see the world differently. It only takes one major thing to affect other 

events as well. 
  Netscape was very important in the land of events of making this world flat. Before they came along we 

had no way to instantly communicate with one another and provide essential research. Sure, we did fine 

before technology came into play, but it made it easier or some would say lazier to people around the world.  

It brought the internet on its toes and made it available for anyone to use. With so much demand for certain 

networks it spawned a whole bunch of operating systems such as Windows 95 which, became the number 

one consumer use world wide. People were communicating via the internet left and right with people all over 

the world  before we knew it. Netscape also started the dot com sensation. The internet-email-interacting-

phase became the reason of globalization 3.0.

      I really liked reading the interview between the author and the CEO of Netscape. It was such a telling 

interview and learned a lot of things about how the internet became this important technology in our daily 

lives. Who knew it would become such a hit and influence today’s world. It defiantly makes the world a bit 

more flat. of course, being a kid that was brought into the early days of technology this interested me more 

than the Berlin Wall.