The World is Flat

Tom L Friedman

I'm reaching the end of the book. This is the part where the reader is supposed to be terrified. A flat world filled with Chinese and Indians demanding energy to drive their once-retarded economies into a state of IT nirvana. This is the part where I take issue but let me read the book to the end ....

Update 8 June 2008
Overall a worthwhile book to re-read and assess relevance - this version I read is an update in 2006/7. It's still relevant today. The chinese and indians are still holding the world by its guts. Kevin Rudd has just talked about Australia leading a kind of Australiasian union. Wishful thinking though - a decade of Howard neglect has confirmed that australia has no place in Asia.

Back to the book; yes still get calls from centres in Bangalore - more and more migrants into Australia doing jobs most Aussies won't do - eg: stacking the shelves at Coles on a Sunday or running 7/11 round the clock - these seem to be the stranglehold of the Sikh community out in the southeastern suburbs.

Yes, I agree with Friedman that science and mathematics are important base for education. In fact, he writes that education is the key to competing well in the flat world.

I wonder how flat the world will be as oil prices reach US$170 a barrel. Will we come to a standstill and start looking inwards? Will countries start challenging the encroachment of migrants when it no longer can afford to sail the seas of the flat world? Because to be a part of the flat world requires a lot of commitment on the part of governments - will they commit funds for that or, if they are "self sufficient" close the doors? Or are we in the world where governments no longer have the option to close their doors and lock in their citizens?

Friedman does bring up interesting points but he dawdles a bit more than necessary.