Chapter 13-changing the world In Chapter 13, Friedman tells us about how the flat world of today is changing the world within entrepreneurship and activism. Friedman addresses a form of social entrepreneurship on page 497. Hockenstein, from McKinsey & Company consulting firm, went to Phnom Penh where they were planning on starting a data entry business. They had a hard time finding someone from Cambodia to train his two local Cambodian managers. Once this was all established, they were then able to buy computers and internet along with many other local workers. Hockenstein’s business was able to start by digitalizing The Crimson’s archive. In time they were able to improve and grow their business in Cambodia. In the flat world of today we have so many ways to communicate and work with other countries around the world. The example that I summarized above, describes the use of offshoring. The use of the internet helps them communicate on a regular basis with the home base. It isn’t only entrepreneurship but also activism that is demonstrating a large benefit from the world flattening so quickly. On page 506, Friedman upholds the Google Earth Website as an example of a new opportunity for political activism. The government tried to block the site three days, because the three dimension images showing too much detail into private homes and royal palaces along with the inequality of land. The internet and technology have made it much easier for everyone to access just about anything they want, so the government is not becoming more involved.
Chapter 14 After reading Chapter 14, I realized that Friedman had many examples about the negative affect that electronics have had on the population. Friedman discusses his trip to Germany and France on page 515. He said that he and the driver were in a taxi cab for an hour and had not said a word to each other. From the time that the driver picked him up in the airport to the hotel the driver had been talking on his Bluetooth while watching a movie. Though Friedman was also at fault; her was riding in the car while typing on his laptop and listening to his iPod. After this he stops to say that “…technology can make the far feel very near. But it can also make the near feel very far” (page 516). We are so busy trying to concentrate on a million different things that it is near impossible to direct all of our attention towards one task. Our brains are not set up to focus on more than one thing, whether we want to believe that we are good multi-taskers or not.