Module # 13 Final Blog (WSU FALL 2014)

This class has been very enlightening and eye opening to the “flat world” of Friedman. Technology is everywhere, and comes in many different forms, and has it’s own identity.  There are so many components to technology and the industries that thrive around creating a competitive advantage over one another.   Globalization is a good thing, and a bad thing, and affects all facets of industry, as well as society.   In a previous module I wrote  “As technology changes the world, we grow with it.  We grow as a society, we grow as individuals, and we grow as a global community.”  What this means to me is that there are truly no barriers anymore.  We can communicate with anyone, anywhere, at anytime, about anything!   There truly is a level playing field now, and new inventions and ideas can be shared everyday on a global scale.  The negative to the flat world is that it becomes too competitive, and the people and companies with the money generally come out on top.

Unfortunately as Friedman and many others have said, “If you snooze. You lose.”   This statement kind of summarizes the entire class for me, as it relates to most of the components of globalization and a flat world.  The technology industry is extremely competitive, and they spend trillions of dollars on gaining advantages over each other.   The global economy is completely reliant on technology now, as computers run the world, and we cannot live without it!  The individuality of being human is quickly diminishing, as it seems that it has now become technological warfare. The corporate giants want to see who can make the most money by making us lazy due to the speed and efficiency which technology gives us.  I feel lost without my cellphone now, and it is difficult to imagine life without it, as I am certain anyone that reads this would agree. It is kind of like my generation has become pawns in a game of technological chess.  The 40+ generation is becoming lost to this fast-paced, advancing, technological monster, and we are forced to comply, or get left behind.  We are always in “panic mode” and our world never slows down.  We grew up without texting, iphones, Ipads, I,I,I everything!  What happened to us, and we?  I think being a parent has changed the way I look at technology, as I see my children utilizing it for everything.   My kids would rather be on their computers, cell phones, or playing video games, rather than playing outside.  It is frustrating as a parent, when you wonder how they are learning to communicate and interact with each other on a physical level.  Technology is forcing us to dehumanize, and communicate in a completely different way.  

Google is God!   What more can I say!  It is singularly the most powerful entity in the universe.  It is all knowing, and has changed the way they we search for information, do business, and live our lives.  It is not just a search engine anymore, it has become the face of humanity.   It is very unsettling when I think of the way that Google has shifted the way we think on a deeper level as humans.  Google is amazing for business, and has created fantastic tools and analytics to track everything on the planet.  It is remarkable how I use Google Calendar to schedule my days, Google Docs for my business, Gmail, and the list goes on.  The Irony of it, is that I do not even see Google as a business anymore, I look at it as a tool that assists me to carry on with my day to day activities.  It is horrific to think what would happen if Google shut down, the world would probably end. 

In summary,  I feel that we as humans have always feared the future.  I think we hide behind our fears, and try and hold things back sometimes, because we are afraid to watch the world grow.  Our paradigms of the old -world, have shifted.  Traditions are failing, and the world is passing the older generations by at blinding speed.   I now know that Christopher Columbus was wrong!  The world is truly flat! “  I have had an incredible journey in this class and realized how amazing technology is, and how destructive technology can be on a human level.  Technology is fantastic, but it is affecting the way we communicate as humans.  It is desensitizing us to physical communication, and leaving it in the hands of a text message or email.  It is changing how we relate, how we feel compassion, and how we love.    

I think I will write a novel, and call it:

 “Whatever happened to really….. Laughing Out Loud!”  

(Look for it in your Globalized Supply Chain of Offshore, Outsourced, Online Monopolies!)

Great Class!  Thank you Mr. Jensen!