Globalization: Whatever can be done, will be done

Throughout the years, many innovations have taken place in society. These innovations often lead to changes in the way people within a society go about their every day lives. One critical change that we have, and continue to experience in today's society, is Globalization. There have been many things that led up to the idea of globalization but I believe it is in its most critical stage of development in present times.

A few years back I came across a lecture video on the MIT open-courseware system entitled "The World is Flat." This, by nature, caught my eye and I had to watch. In this video (http://www.academicearth.org/lectures/the-world-is-flat), a man by the name of Thomas Friedman discusses his story, observations, and findings on the topic of globalization. Friedman is a journalist and as many journalists do, posed the following question: "Why does everyone hate Americans?" In his attempt to answer the question, Friedman realized he needed to view Americans from a different perspective. Following this realization, Friedman traveled to Bangalore India to conduct fieldwork. While in India, Friedman met with a very prominent Indian engineer and conducted an interview.  Friedman was told "The global economic playing field is being leveled, and you Americans are not ready." This led Friedman to develop his theory that "The World is Flat" and individual globalization.

Friedman presents the idea that Globalization has occurred in 3 steps through time. The first step of the globalization process began with countries globalizing. This has been around for some time now and lasted until about the 19^th or 20^th century. Counties have always had some form of relation with each other. Regardless of whether the relations are good or bad, counties have and will always have an impact on each other. The next step in the globalization process began with companies and industries globalizing. Examples of this include outsourcing and off-shoring of jobs for cheaper or more efficient labor. Another example is when companies decide to operate internationally and have offices in multiple countries to reach a larger target market. The final step, and the step I find most important and prevalent in today’s society, is individual globalization. When individuals can share their ideas through mediums such as the internet for a relatively cost free method, It creates this idea of individual globalization.

I define Individual Globalization to mean an individual’s ability to reach all ends of the earth to conduct business and share ideas. This has been created by the dot.com boom which led to the overinvestment in digital infrastructure. This overinvestment essentially “wired the world” and made it relatively free to publish ones ideas and conduct business with a connection to the internet.

So what?

The idea of individual globalization should be a high priority to everyone in society. To begin, individual globalization has created a substantial amount of competition that was not there before. As you may know, people in less developed countries work for a much cheaper wage compared to those in the United States. If those countries have the technology to perform tasks that are normally performed here, what is stopping businesses from outsourcing the work to save costs? Examples of outsourced work can range from menial tasks such as answering a telephone to tasks that require high levels of education such as analyzing x-rays or giving advice on medical treatment. This will, if it has not already, affect many American’s ability to get jobs and may negatively impact the compensation they receive. This makes me wonder if there is any correlation between the unemployment rate and the change in amount of jobs sent offshore.

Another result of the “overinvestment of digital infrastructure” is now every person who is connected to the internet has the ability to publish their ideas for everyone else to see. This has many positive contributions to society in the sense that new innovations and inventions are being created and now the creator can seek funding/support for those ideas that may not have been possible prior to the “digital overinvestment.” This brings about my challenge to you. In our current stage of individual globalization, whatever can be done will be done. The important question that I encourage you to consider is: If whatever can be done will be done, will it be done by you, or to you?