“Falling Off the Edge”

From the time we are in grade school, learning about the voyage of Christopher Columbus it is ingrained in our minds that the world as we know it is round.  It is almost impossible for us to imagine anyone actually believing that if you went far enough in one direction, you would literally tumble into oblivion.  How ironic that as society becomes increasingly advanced, and gains multitudes of knowledge, the unintended side effect is a return to the theory of a flat world.

It is used, of course, as a metaphor.  The physical landscape of the Earth has not changed, but the implied landscape of cyberspace has very nearly become a flat plane.  In the not so distant past, specialized services were hard to come by.  It usually required extensive time, research, and even travel in some cases. This is not so in today’s modern world.  Thanks to the World Wide Web, individuals with access to a computer, be it at home, work, school, or library, also have access to nearly anyone, anywhere on the planet.  As an extension of this, they also have access to the same nearly limitless products and services.

This incredible level of access did not, of course, happen overnight.  According to Thomas L. Friedman, it happened in three distinct periods.  The first, which he labels Globalization 1.0, happened from about 1492 until 1800.  This time frame dealt with ideas on a larger scale.  Countries and their government authority were scrambling to prove which had the greatest power, and the most inventive way to harness it.  The focus became global opportunities, and the ability to connect and integrate through the country.

The next period, is referred to by Friedman as Globalization 2.0, and began with the end of the previous era around 1800 then continued until about 2000.  The focus now became multinational business. Connections were made through companies rather than countries.  The third and final period began around 2000 and is, of course, Globalization 3.0.  This era personalized the focus further, down to the individual, which promoted global competition and collaboration on a more intimate level.

An enormous stepping stone on the way to a flat world was the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.  This event was a ripple felt around the world.  It cleared the landscape and made room for society to think on a global level.  Core standards were set on ideas such as how economies should be run.  With everyone following the same rules and regulations, the playing field inevitably became more uniform. 

Opportunities and options that had not existed were now available with the click of a button.  Companies such as Netscape harnessed this idea and provided a way for people to connect with one another in a way never before experienced.  No longer was the individual relegated to the station they were born into in life.  One only had to set their sights on a new circumstance, and the doorway could be opened through the World Wide Web. 

In a flat world, proximity is no longer a direct factor for possibility!