The Most Significant Flattener

By far, the most significant flattener is Netscape and the company's influence on the world wide web. Netscape opened the door to every flattener that came after it. As Friedman talks about in his speech at Yale, Netscape opened the doors to internet browsers and actually created the first one. With internet browser's people could now search for whatever they are looking for with a simple sentence or even just a couple words. The information that we can find with a single search is incredible. If you need to know something you use and internet browser. Nowadays we use other browser's like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Google Chrome, but Netscape contributed the start to each one of those browser's and without Netscape, those probably wouldn't exist.

Netscape not only opened the doors to internet browser's it also commercialized a set of open transmission protocols so a single company could not dominate over the entire internet system. This is very important because we see domination in nearly everything else. Wal-Mart and Target are dominating the sale of inexpensive household goods, foods, and clothes. Home Depot and Lowes are dominating the home repair market. Could you imagine having two or three companies controlling what was put on the internet and what had to stay off? How much less information we would have available at our fingertips if that happened? The lack of communication we would suffer if those companies ever targeted a whole country to block out. With everyone able to post, share, discuss, inform, sell, buy, and trade equally over the internet we are granted one of the greatest things we will ever get: Ability. If you want to start your own company completely off the internet, you have the ability to do that. If you want to tell everyone how great your family history is, you have the ability to do that. If you want to talk about how much you hate the New York Jets, you have the ability to do that. Everyone does and now, thanks to Netscape, always will.

The last thing Friedman talks about is the .com boom that Netscape triggered. This is what really connected us to other countries, other communities, other businesses, other students, and other friends. Without the .com boom we would have a lot harder time getting a hold of anyone overseas. We would still be trying to connect through phones, and when there is a 12 hour time difference between you and your contact it can really make it much harder to go about you business as normal. It is truly incredible the amount of information that Netscape has allowed us to find at the touch of our fingertips.

Response to Dan

Hi Dan,

I could not agree with you more on your thoughts following Tom Friedman's lecture. I think that our ideas most closely allign. The creation of Netscape has the greatest effect on the world, because it is the center of how we operate and function as a society today. I never even thought of the .com boom as a 'boom', because it is all I know in regards to using the internet. I now understand that the influence the .com boom created is why my life has become easier thanks to the Internet. I also do not believe that any of the 6 other flatteners would be influential without Netscape. Netscape has made all these other factors easier, more accessible, or simply put; possible. Netscape is the center point of Friedman's theory, and without it our world certainly would not be even and flat.

-Katelynn Havener

response to Eric

I completely agree with Eric and the rest of the class that the most significant flattener was Netscape making the interent public. Everyone in the class pretty much wrote the same thing but Eric's post made me actually sit and realize it. In the middle of his post he asks a question, "Could you picture the world without internet?" reading this most would just think of it as a rhetorical question but then he goes back and says, no actually think about it. It made me stop and think that we wouodl not be able to do more than half of our daily activities if there was no internet. We could not ahve a discussion within our class while noone is in the same room as eachother. I could not contact my bestfriend when she is over in Greece, or even find jobs as Eric pointed out. Netscape took the many countries of the world and brought them all to one central location and everyone can access. Although we take a simple email for granted it is truely an amazing thing.

An Even Playing Field

     In the past decade, the boundaries of the world that once separated different areas of society has drawn together, and the result is a flat world or what I like to call; “an even playing field”. The harmony between the aspects (flatteners) which have made the world flat is what has made our world a now more successful and productive society. Specifically, the conversion of a user friendly web browser-more commonly known as Netscape, has eased the way we operate every single day. I use the word ‘operate’, because in 2011 it is a safe assumption to make that most people in industrialized nations use a computer in one way or another at least once a day. Many jobs or lifestyles are centered on the use of a computer. More households have advanced (high-speed) access to the internet, and this is in part thanks to the flattener of Netscape. This being said, Netscape is by far the most significant flattener Tom Friedman mentioned in his lecture to Yale students. Netscape is presumably the leader of where technology in our world has come to in the last ten years.

                Because of Netscape, our world was introduced to a universal browser that eases and organizes the entire World Wide Web. This even playing field has allowed faster communication, quicker access to data and information, and a higher production rate of input and output goods. Without this fundamental tool, the internet would be filled with loopholes, incompatible websites, a break of communication, and a lower rate of productivity. Users would be confused, or even deterred from using the internet entirely.  Additionally, other world flatteners such as uploading, or supply chains would either be ineffective or worse: non-existent.

                In short, though society has begun to lack character or a sense of uniqueness, it is important to understand that fundamental flatteners exist because they better and enhance society. They create a new culture-one with opportunity and greater advancements. The public opening of Netscape has only opened new doors of opportunity. Sadly, our generation cannot really highlight these changes as they are the only thing we know. It is then left up to our elders to break down, explain, and show the improvements of life since the introduction of the internet. It will be exciting to see the continuous change and improvement that results from living in a flat, but versatile world.

-Katelynn Havener

Most Significant Flattener

Thomas Friedman outlined 10 flatteners that he feels truly shaped our society into what it is today. Out of those 10 points, he discussed the impact of search engines and how they evolved and developed into what we use today. The primary example is how google changed how we think, and how we use the Internet. Prior to search engines like Google, MSN, yahoo, and Altevista, we were expected to simply know how to find websites. It caused there to be a large division between those websites that could afford expensive advertising and aggressive marketing, and those that were small start-ups. Search engines created a more transparent visualization of the Internet by allowing websites equal opportunity for traffic, and while this seems only beneficial to the website developers, the entire world benefited. Users can now simply ask a question to google or yahoo, and have responses from Chinese users, Russian users, etc. Programs like Google Translator allow for entire web pages to be converted into a language understood by all, which further flattens the world. Friedman also outlines how google searches increased from 150 million searches per day to one billion, this exponential increase illustrates the effectiveness of search engines as well as their necessity in the modern world. Business are now considered "behind" if they aren't listed on the google search page and if a google search doesn't yield a private web page. But the effects of google aren't necessarily all beneficial. Google now knows more about us than ever before, and who is to say that information won't be shared with anyone? Every single search is recorded, regardless of its embarrassing nature. There have been incidents where search histories have been made public, and individuals have been identified for searching ridiculous and embarrassing things. So while the world has definitely been flattened by the emergence of search engines, their effects are not entirely benevolent.

Netscape- The most significant flattener.

By far the most significant flattener discussed in Tom Friedmens lecture about his book was the discussion on Netscape. Netscape was created in 1995, not very long ago and look how far it has come. Everything we do now is through the internet including homework, banking, shopping and especially communication with friends. Contaction someone from another country used to be nearly impossible because of the cost of the call. With facebook and even skype you can message them, call and video chat your friends from anywhere for free, all because of Netscape making the internet public. I honestly do not know where my generation would be without easily accessible internet. I was four years old when Netscape made the internet public making it so i dont even remember a time without internet. Mostly every teenager I know has a smart phone where they spend hours out of their day on the internet through their phone checking facebook, email, or just searching the web. Which brings be to another flattener that was amazing. Nevermind picturing life without internet, but what if the interent did not have Google? The information that is on the interenet would not be easily accessable without it. In fact, I just searched when Google was created and became big and google.com is what I typed in the address bar. Such a little thing to us, changed the world as it was known as is not realized by many people until it is pointed out as Tom Freidmen did to us.

Response to Samuel scott

Hey Sam, I agree with you on Netscape being the most significant flattener. I believe that it open the door to so many different things. For example being able to communicate with somone way across the world. It changed and shaped the way that we do business now by being able to have business expand to overseas. Also it gave the chance to be more advance by giving life to the other flatteners such as the uploading, insourcing, and outsourcing all of them would have never happen if it wasn't for Netscape. This is why Netscape is the most significant flattener in my opinion.

Response to Michael Busby

I agree with Michael on this point. Netscape's public release changed the world. It has made life easier for the blue-collar person, not just the corporate world. It helped people connect with friends and family all over the world. It also helped people spread their opinions and ideas, both personal and business related. It helped artists and entrepreneurs that would usually not get noticed publicity to spread their work, ideas, and products to everyone around the world. This helps so much of the population of the world get jobs that they would not have gotten without the internet.

The Significant Flattener

I believe that Freidman's view on how progressive this world is becoming is completely correct. This world has become completely technological. From conversation to shopping to buying food. Everything is expected to be instant and simple. I know that when I lost power during the hurricane I was just about lost.

Technological innovations are making this world simpler to live in. I believe that could be a part of why this world is being considered "flat". Everything is turning into a one way street.

Another reason I believe this world is becoming more and more flat, is because the technological advancement is bringing people from all around the world instantly together. People from America can talk, via video, with people in Asia, Europe, and Africa instantly. This is what is bringing the world closer. There is no longer need for the long flights or waiting in the mail for the papers. A few clicks and two people are looking at the exact same thing at the exact same time thousands of miles away.

The advancements in this world are unbelievable. I believe that this is a good thing for world because leaders will be able to work out treaties and agreements quicker and easier.

Most Important Flattener

The most important flattener that Tom Friedman mentioned was Netscape going public because, not only has it made information from the other side of the world to being accessible by a click of a mouse, but it has also allowed the internet be one of the top ways of communication in the present world. Our generation revolves around the internet, whether it is finding information, staying in touch with family or friends, purchasing items, having meetings or even working can be done online. Therefore Netscape flattening the world by allowing this quick communication is very crucial. Also, I think a very key thing Netscape did before other browsers before it, was allow different systems ( i.e. AOL and MSN) to communicate with one another because, since everyone has different preferences it is more convenient to have a browser that allowed intercommunication between these different websites. Therefore, I think Netscape is the most important flattener Friedman had discussed.

Flattener

The World Is Flat

In the video by Tom Friedman he makes many valuable points when he talks about hit flattening ideas. However, I think his most significant flattener that he talks about is the company that was founded on August 9, 1995. That company would be known as Netscape. This took such significance to me because if you think about the world today people take technology for granted. Could you imagine the world today without the use of the internet? Think about it for a second. The internet consists of so many things it seems so endless. Virtually I think everything will come down to being done on an internet basis. For some examples just look at employers reaching out to gain potential employees. People can go online now and look up a job and not even have to go to the actual store to get an application. Also email has changed the world in a far faster world. I don’t think I go a day without using the internet either it be for chatting with friends, doing research, or checking an email, the world today would be a far more different place if there were no internet. I talk about the internet so much because it was sad by Tom Friedman that Netscape was the first to make the internet public. Also what made Netscape such a strong flattener was that they made the internet a set of open transmission protocols. This means that people could send emails to each other even if they weren’t sending them to the same type of services. Making the internet world I guess you could say bilingual makes it easy for us to communicate back and forth. It is just like if a town’s police station had a set of codes and the one next door had a different set. If one town needed help and sent out a code the other town wouldn’t know what it was because they had different ones.

Eric Kelly

Flattener

My most significant flattener from Tom Freidman’s lecture was the subject of Netscape. When Netscape went public for the price of $28 this caused a huge flattening of society. It gave the everyday person the ability to have that technological advantage like the rich and the smart. It broadened the audience base for the Internet and made communications that much easier to access. Netscape gave the access for people to use the Internet to be able to watch videos, movies, and much more things. The Flattening wasn’t really seen at first by the everyday people. Netscape offered the ability to do almost anything the customer needed to when they provided their product for cheap but a very effective price.

The Internet browser gave the people to communicate with people all over the world. Netscape gave that access and was a leader for awhile because of it. Netscape gave the stepping blocks for other internet browsers as well, like Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Firefox. Freidman stated that "there was suddenly available a platform for collaboration that all kinds of people from around the globe could now plug and play, compete and connect on—in order to share work, exchange knowledge, start companies, and invent and sell goods and services". Overall because this gave people that access to the browser so early it gave people the ability to do as they please when they logged onto the Internet. Overall Netscape led the way and was an example for all the other search engines that are around today.

Netscape, most important flattener

Stefany Mendez

In the video featured on youtube ofThomas L. Friedman where he explains that the world is flattening the most significant flattener for me is the second one. On August 9 1995 in Mountain View, California,Netscape went public. Netscape gave us the Internet; well it created the Internet browser, which allowed people to search through the Internet, listen to music and look up files. This was the most important to me because our generation has evolved based on the Internet. The technology that we value now is only valuable because it allows us to search through the web and download files and music quicker and more effectively. This to me is the greatest flattener because it really did change the future in every nation. Because of Internet browsing we can easily allow us to read the news and learn about foreign things. The internet browsing as well as making life easier for us it also took jobs away because people were able to do things from their own homes such as online banking lessening the need for tellers, online shopping lessening the need of employees at stores, eBooks lessening the need of libraries and etc. It has made an effect to our society in a positive as well as negative way. Netscape also allows the Internet to be interconnected because it did not allow any one company to dominate the Internet. It is a market place where everyone has equal chance to perform and it allows better communication and also allows the user to decide what resource they feel is better for whatever they are doing whether it is downloading music or searching for answers on something complex. Netscape also destroyed the walls that avoided people to communicate with each other. Example, someone on msn could not communicate with someone on AOL, but because of the Netscape, users from different businesses and different systems could communicate with each other. To me this was very important because we have a simplified life thanks to Internet browsing. We use this enforced feature every day of our lives because it is essential to almost everything we do. Compared to all the flatteners explained by Thomas L. Friedman to me, Netscape on August 9^th 1995 was the most life changing and most significant one because of the effect it had on our current standing in life and our current practices as a society.

Flattener

The flattener that I beleive was most significant would be offshoring. I believe that this is the most important flattener because it allowed companies to become more competitive in their market by sending thier jobs outside the U.S. to foreign countries. This in turn leads to a decrease in overhead expenses and therefore a greater profit. Offshoring also lead to the communication between countries through things such as technical support, accounting, and even doctors. Lets take Dell for example; they sent their technical aspect portion of their business to countries outside the U.S. such as India in order to cut wage costs. They had a choice to pay employees in the U.S. an average of $10 per hour or if the sent their jobs outside the U.S. to half that. This increased their profits tremendously. This also forced the consumers to communicate with people outside the us and form a relationship that would help solve both of their problems.

Most Significant Flattener

The most significant flattener from Tom Friedman’s lecture was when Netscape went officially public. Since I am a huge tech person, I believe that this is one of the greatest things that happened. So many things have happen in spite of the Internet being created. This was huge because people around the world now had access to the Internet around the world. People could now get information and build knowledge about certain things much quicker than before Netscape went officially public. The Internet is and will always be one of the greatest inventions that have been create, some of the other things that have been created in spite of Netscape going public was outsourcing, insourcing, uploading, informing, supply chaining, and offshoring. All of these were possible because Netscape went public. I believe this is one of the greatest things and it was a huge focus in Tom Friedman’s book as well.

- Michael Busby

Josh Bassett. World is flat

The most significant flattener from his lecture on his book for me was the number 9 In-forming. He used Google and other search engine as examples. Because never before could someone get any information they needed from there own computer. Before Google you had to buy a paper or go to the library to look up past events that took place. Now when using Google you can look up in all the archives of what happened yesterday or even 40 years ago if you wanted. I look back and can’t believe the effort it took back in the day to find out information. Soon history books will not be needed in the basement of most library’s because it’s all on the internet and all you need to do is type it in on Google. Post will come up about what you’re looking for, Thomas Friedman said there were roughly one billion searches on Google a day. I was appalled when I herd him say that, I thought to my self there is no way everything that I want to find out I can search for it on Google. So I did my own investigation. I went on to Google to research what year did the first NCAA divisions 1 lacrosse championship happen. Here were my findings, I thought only a few results would come up but I was wrong there were 9,060,000 results. For this one topic. Witch is unheard of back in the day. Before it was probably hard to find this one answer. Now sense Google it took me 2 seconds to find all those result.

If innovations like Google were never made, we would still be spending valuable time in are days to do school work and finding out research material for projects. These search engines gloried the whole world and made it flat, because you can find out information that happened in other countries. Many people use Google to research a place where they want to go on vacation before they get there to have better knowledge of the area and traditions there. Years ago this was unheard of. These search engines have made the day-to-day life simpler for everyone. I feel like this is just the beginning, Google came out with Google earth a few years ago where you can type in an address and you can see it from the sky. Soon it will be a live feed and you will know what’s going on in any location you type in.

Most Significant Flattener

I believe that the most significant flattener from Tom Friedman’s lecture was from 8/9/95 when Netscape went public. This was basically the creation of the Internet for everyone around the world with their web browser. It also helped create the .Com boom, which is one of the most major booms in human history. This brought a whole new level of communication throughout the world with people from countries from one end of the world connecting with people all the way across the other end at a speed that no one had ever seen before. It also increased the knowledge of people because you could get information much quicker than going to a library and looking it up. This flattener helped create 6 other flatteners also stated in Friedman’s lecture, which are outsourcing, offshoring, insourcing, uploading, informing, and supply chaining. All of these flatteners couldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Netscape going public. That is why I believe that Netscape was the flattener that had the most affect on the world today. It had the greatest influence on the world and especially Friedman’s book.

- Dan Prestes

Most significant flattener

The most significant flattener from Tom Freidman's lecture was when netscape went public. This flattener gave life to six other flatteners, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining, insourcing, and informing. All six of these could not be possible with out nextcape. This is what open the door for people to connect all over world. Its what set the tone for making the world become "flat" by making the forms of communication be so easy and simple. - Alanna Johnson

Samuel Scott- Why the World is Flat

Friedman believed that the world is flat of the motion that competitive playing field between industrial and emerging market countries is leveling, and because entrepreneurs as well as companies, both large and small are a part of a global supply chain. The significant flattener that was recorded in the book that struck me was the Netscape company. Netscape was a big fact in the flatting of the world. Netscape brought the internet alive with the browser. They developed the internet so that people could use it more easier then every before. The second thing that Netscape did was commercialize a set of open transmissions protocols so that no company could own the internet. This act of Netscape changed the world to where now the world is so much more advanced. It all started with Netscape thats why i believe that this is one of the most significant flatteners.

Samuel Scott

The way information that is past on has changed over many years now. In the video Did You Know 5, the fact the struck me was that we watch 15,000 hours of television compared to 11,000 hours of schooling. This fact shocked me at first, but television is an experience shared by most adults and children around the world. Television has become and important asset to the mass media network. I believe TV is a resource that we should use through the right selection of programs by taking an active and critical attitude towards it for business and schooling.

Scott R., Tom H., Katelynn H., Stefany M.

The way in which we access information and complete business has drastically changed within the last few years alone. It is shocking that the facts we learned during our freshman year are no longer relevant or are outdated. This statement seemingly degrades the value of our degrees that we recieve in 4 years.

Additionally, we were were suprised by the statistics that showed that countries outside of the United States have higher I.Q. rates, even though they are less exposed to technology and learning advancements in society. Many of these less industrialized countries have more honor students, which raises the question: Is technology becoming a detriment or distraction to learning? Is the use of technology making civilians see the world as a flat entity because of technology, or is it a constant and growing world of positive changes?

Pedro Villegas, Peter Houlihan

The way that we access information has changed in many ways. Information is now faster to recieve but at the same time there are more distractions through this new technology. Responds are faster and more on time as well, and things can be confirmed faster as well.

Did you know?

The fact about the accounting majors was very shocking to us. Accounting and finance are very high paying jobs and as an accounting major myself, I was not expecting the message to americans saying momma dont let your kids be accounts. - Natasha Cameron & Nikki Champney

What does it mean?

The example that struck me was how much time we spend in school vs. the amount of hours watching tv. I would think the amount of time that we spend in school would be much greater than watching Tv but its not. Simply because we are doing so many other things while doing our homework like watching TV, listening to music, and sending text. - Alanna Johnson

Did You Know 5

Josh, Austin, Cory, Joe, Adam

The one that stuck our group was the remark that stated we watch more tv then we do school. The people in our group stated that they watch more tv then what they implied. Depending on what people are watching, say they watch new, histoy channel, informative shows they are going to gain information that could keep them current with what is going on in the world today and could tie into what they learn through their education.

Justin, Dan, Anthony

The quote that struck us as shocking was the fact that more people in China speak English than people that live in America. This is shocking to us because the outsourcing to China will turn into companies moving to China because they will be able to run their companies cheaper with the same production. This will mean less jobs for Americans, because Chinese will work for less.

Michelle Cheng, Stephanie Tang

The average kid watches over 15,000 hours of tv according to the video.

I think kids are missing out on what fun use to be, playing outside, playing tag, hide-n-seek,etc.

Now fun is considered having your own blog and sitting in front of a computer and "blogging."

People are working from home more because new technology is making it easier and possible. There's less face to face interaction with people. Web cams making it possible for meetings etc.

You can order pretty much order everything online including groceries, but it is really helping us or in the end hurting us?

Incalss discussion

Dave Jones, Eric Kelly, Brendan Hamilton

The video talked about how education is ranked last of the 55 sectors in IT intensity. This makes us worried because our education needs to be relavent and up to date. The fact that Coal mining is more IT intensive says that we aren't learning at a raid enough pace. With China having so many more people who are smarter and more educated, how are we going to be able to compete in a global marketplace? How long can the US stay the larget economy in the world?