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Deathgrip on the Obvious
We find Thomas Friedman of the New York Times to be a little overly animated and alarmed on that which is apparent. He's got a deathgrip on the obvious with his new book on geo-economic culture in "The World is Flat - A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century." But that doesn't mean that his subject matter isn't interesting, if already known. Mr. Friedman has been making the publicity rounds lately, and the excerpt from the book in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine was a good reminder that the very technologies that users, developers, and marketers of conferencing and collaboration technologies are deploying are helping level the playing field in the new economic order. ...Or disorder if your cousin just lost her job to someone in India, China, Russia or one of the many interconnected knowledge pools that exist around the globe. Armed with tools of broadband connections, abundant software, cheap labor, rich educational backgrounds, and eagerness, there are now many places abroad that are going to begin eating Americans' lunches. We say, let the games begin. But note to Tom Friedman: The games began some time ago, and with your multilateralist bias, what's so bad about a level playing field?
April 6, 2005
