I’m reading a pretty good book right now. “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. I’m only 75 pages into it, but already I like what he’s saying.
Basically, the gist is that we are moving towards a global economy. But it’s more complicated than that. The walls between societies are breaking down in many ways. This book details how it has happened and what it means for our future. The reason why this is fascinating to me, is that I work in one of the industries that is bringing about these changes.
I can turn a company that has offices in many nations and cities into one that operates as a single office, mom-and-pop, style of business, effectively erasing the distance and the limitations that would bring. It’s more than just a bottom line kind of thing. Because of the ability to shrink or erase the physical distance, you can build a business that operates as units all over the world, and it will actually make you more competitive.
It’s a huge thing, and it’s going to change the way our world interacts. I’m pretty excited to be a part of that.
#1 by the tipsyone on August 8th, 2006
Did you ever read Freakonomics? That was a pretty crazy book. Obviously we are moving toward a “one world” economy but is that a good thing? I’m not so sure. It’s a mixed bag…
#2 by Chris on August 8th, 2006
“Good, bad? I’m the guy with the gun.”
I’m not sure it’s going to be a good thing for everyone. But I’m trying to make sure it’ll be a good thing for me and my family. It helps to see it coming.
It’s like, back in the days of Alexander Graham Bell, if you saw him talking on the phone and laughed it off. “Fuck this telephone shit. Who wants to talk to other people?” without seeing what it could mean. It applies to any other culture changing event. Ford and the Model T. “Fuck that car. I got a horse! Why do I need anything else?”
The way I see it, you either build yourself an ark, or drown. The flood is coming, one way or another. And I’ll be damned if I let my skillset get outsourced. I want to make myself indispensable.
#3 by the tipsyone on August 8th, 2006
you can’t outsource goodlooks, baby. or smoothness for that matter. so i’m in goodshape. anywho, i’ll read this book when i’m done with bob dylan’s bio, “chronicles”. It’s excellent. It would be nice to have a line to the chinese economy though. There are cities there you’ve never heard of with 10 million people.