Book Review: The World is
Book Review: The World is Flat
After a 3 month wait in the public library, I finally got a chance to read Freidman's bestseller on Current Affairs. In true republican style, he argues for the advantages of "out-sourcing", calling it "sourcing" and writes 500 plus pages to support his argument. He begins by enumerating the "10 flatteners" that include the internet boom etc. and moves on to the "triple convergence" effect of the internet, free software etc. happening together, making "outsourcing" a smart idea. He also touches upon the "dark" side of the information availability that helps Al Queda as much as Infosys to make their operations global. He also rushes past towards the end, telling China to be more environmentaly friendly and reduce its domestic petroleum consumption and India to not go to war with Pakistan. Dah!
Mr. Friedman is obviously Dubya's chamcha, but not a word of censor to the American public that has made this book a bestseller (unless it is a myth perpetrated by the publisher, hand in glove with governmental policy) to reduce their petroleum consumption. Oh no! China should be doing it. Also the greatest warmongering country that also makes the most money in Arm sales demands that India strive for peace with Pakistan. Mr. Friedman evidently does not know or refuses to give reality to facts staring him at his face.
If American policy moved towards disarmament and called for global disarmament, then we are getting somewhere. Then we are actually doing something solid with fighting terror. This past month, I had an opportunity to watch a few bollywood films, most of them terrorist based films with terrorists getting their hands on some nukes and the hero saving the day and the planet. Evidently the threat is there. But every country and polity watches on to see how they can make the most money out of it.
When we read this book more deeply, we can see the worry of America- America thought it would get richer by selling more of its sodas (that has absolutely NO value whatsoever except for marketing) and equally fizool stuff ( digital cameras & HP printers that according to Friedman are empowering village women in India) to the rest of the world. So to get the world to buy it, they created a need and even jobs that would pay enough so that these new consumers can afford to buy their stuff.
Unforunately China caught on to the game of manufacturing real early and destroyed the manufacturing industry in America. And the much maligned but disciplined education system of India has slowly but steadily produced enough engineers and accountants to handle the technical and financial issues of America.
While Friedman is laughing happily to the bank with another bestseller, he is also concerned about the possibilty of actual creative impulses coming out of the subcontinent. Then what happens to the premium that America has charged the world all these years for "designing"? Already the open source software has challenged the entire litiginous system of America by laughing at stringent copyright and patent issues. And as more and more kids learn to write code, it is plain fun for them to put it up on the web for all to use and feel acknowledged for their intelligence!
Knowledge is indeed a double edged sword and America is waking up to that fact.
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