Press Room
Thomas Friedman Keynote Address
Thomas Friedman presented his three top reasons (out of the 10 he identifies in his book) for why the world is flat – meaning, why the global economic playing field has been leveled.
First, Freidman explained Globalization 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. Globalization 1.0 occurred between 1492 and the early 1800s. It took the world from big to medium in size and globalization was led by countries like Spain. Globalization 2.0 took place between the early 1800s and 2000, taking the world from medium to small in size and led by companies who pursued globalization. Globalization 3.0 has been taking place since the year 2000 and is built around super-empowered individuals who drive globalization, making the world tiny.
The first flattener to occur was the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989. As Friedman puts it, “when the walls came down, the windows came up.” Just months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Microsoft shipped its first Windows software. The advent of personal computers allowed individuals to create their own content in digital form. This was the first step in flattening the world or leveling the global playing field.
Second, on Aug. 9, 1995, Netscape went public. That IPO triggered a $1 trillion investment in fiber optic infrastructure around the world, ensuring that anyone, anywhere could access the web and share content electronically, free of charge. This massive “over-wiring” of the world, Friedman suggests, allowed Russia, China and India to ride the web for free.
Third, the “workflow revolution” of transmission protocols allowed everyone with digital content to not only share it, but collaborate on it over the Web.
These three events contributed to the flat world Friedman describes in his book, where anything, anywhere can be accomplished and the only competition he sees is between an individual and their imagination.
According to Friedman, in this flat world, our competitive advantage is our culture of openness and freedom, coupled with our value of the liberal arts.
Friedman concluded on an optimistic note, stating that he believes we should not cede our economic advantage to China in the 21st century (as some economists have suggested). Rather, we should cultivate the arts, our education and the freedoms that allow us to compete even with fast-growing, but less open societies around the world.
 |
 |
 |
All photos by Kaveh Sardari. These and many other high-resolution images from the National Conference on the Creative Economy may be viewed and purchased from www.sardari.com.
