Tom Friedman’s book, “The World is Flat,” discusses the 10 flattener’s the one that caught my attention the most was the fall of the Berlin Wall. That event changed the world as we know it because it tore down a divider between America and Russia as well as Europe and Germany. After the fall of the Berlin Wall countries could trade freely with some countries that were once off limits. Russian and American cultures could mingle without issues between the two and that allowed the technologies of the countries to trade between them.
With the Berlin Wall torn down East and West Germany were able to unify again which allowed the best minds from both side to come together to start the creative process once again. With both sides together the cultures that developed could mix to create many different goods and inventions. These inventions were then able to spread to other countries allowing those countries to take those products and incorporate them into their cultures or to improve them as they see fit.
Once rivals Russia and America could now trade the products that were once meant to compete with the other countries for the same task and that meant that those products could be improved on to be the best of both worlds. Technologies once withheld from each other could be traded and used by both including military and civilian technologies. For the first time since World War 2 America and Russia could collaborate and cooperate together to develop some amazing items with the best from both countries.
Not only did it allow countries to redevelop and reconnect it was a marker for the end of communism. The years long battle between capitalism and communism had come to an end and that brought China to where it is today. Now that communism was no longer seen as the “bad guy” countries would begin to interact with those communist countries. China was now set up to grow and it has. China has since become a world leader and the source of most manufactured goods due to cheaper labor and costs. China has become a major manufacturer and an up and coming super power to contend with the likes of America and Russia causing some unrest for those countries in the process.
With the 10 flatteners each having a substantial impact on the flattening of the world the one that got it all started was the fall of the Berlin Wall. The fall began the flattening process and led to all the others making the world how we know it today.
1 comment:
I had stated that the steroids were the most important flattener, but I also think that the fall of the Berlin Wall was important as well. The fall of the Berlin Wall allowed for the trade of new technologies. When technologies are traded, it allows for the counties that acquire them to improve them. The way the world advances is through the improvement of technology. Without the fall of the Berlin Wall technologies would not have been improved upon, and America, Russia and Germany may still be divided. The fall of the berlin wall also ended communism. This was a huge benefit for China. The end of communism allowed China to grow and develop into the leading country for technology advancement.
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