Friedman's the World is flat

     In His book “The World is flat” Friedman discusses three major phases that have essentially transformed the world from a sphere to a flattened, tiny, Earth.  These include globalization 1.0 from 1492 to the year 1800 which shrunk the world from large to medium. Globalization 2.0 which changed the size from medium to small in the years 1800 to 2000. The last phase being globalization 3.0 which began in the year 2000 and is currently happening. this phase is shrinking the world from small to not only tiny, but flat.  Let’s venture through each phase a little more deeply 
     In globalization 1.0 the world was essentially just becoming discovered.  He relates Columbus’ journey to the new world.  In this phase the world was not mapped, and there were still debates on the Earth being physically flat.
     In globalization 2.0 the birth of global economy emerged.  The driving force was new hardware.  By now the world was mapped and known as a sphere, the next new frontier was global economy.
     By globalization 3.0 global economies were taking off.  However, in this new phase it not only gave big companies the opportunity to engage internationally but now it gave individuals that same opportunity.  He refers to this phase as the world becoming tiny and flat as to say that now the entire world is becoming an even playing field.  Anyone can communicate, associate, and make an impact around the world.  
Friedman notes that one of the major events that caused the world to become a more even playing field was the fall of the Berlin Wall. 
     I agree with Friedman's points, and I admire his abstract way of looking at the world.  Of course, we are well aware that the world is not physically flat, however, one just needs to simply pick up their phone to realize what a connected world we really live in.  It is easy to see that anyone can play an important part in today's societies, no matter where they live.
     The fall of the Berlin wall happened on November 11, 1989.  This event is important to Friedman because he believes that the fall and even the wall itself mean so much more than just physical.  The Berlin wall represented a physical barricade as well as a barricade for an individual’s vision.  The wall kept the world from being seen as a global market.  During the war there was a plane of capitalism, and a plane of communism.  Once the wall fell there became one plane.  This plane allowed economies to be built from the ground up by the interests of people, rather than from the top by a select group.  Before, there were policies for the eastern side and the western side of the world.  After the fall it ushered in an opportunity for global policies.  I agree that there are global communities, global ecosystems, and global policies which allow a more interconnected web of individuals.
     Netscape was another entity that flattened the world.  Netscape gave birth to the browser. It allowed millions of people to share videos, photos, communicate and share their information.  Once Netscape began every single person was able to access the internet, not just geeks, or highly intelligent individuals.  The story of Netscape is important because it helps the reader see how it allowed everyone to access the internet.  
It seems that all of the events that have been mentioned as flattening the world have been events that have targeted not only certain groups or types of people.  But these events have been geared towards the entire globe of people, at all ages.  Now, the world has been swept over with a great wave that has allowed just about everyone, everywhere to become what they want.  Indeed the world is becoming smaller and flattened out.