The Flat World

The World Is Flat not really but literally as pronounced by Thomas L. Friedman in his book ‘The World Is Flat’ A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. In the world of today everybody has got a level playing field. People in developing world compete and collaborate with those in developed world. This way we are witnessing a phenomenon of widespread distribution of wealth across the globe and are bringing prosperity all around. It all started with advancement in communication and transportation. Inter galactic optical fibers network changed it all. The same work which was done a decade ago in a single office is now being done all across the globe. With some part done in China and some in Mexico and India. So much has changed that you when you book your Mac Donald’s pizza at a take away and you won’t realize that the actual person taking your order is sitting thousands mile away and taking your order over the phone.
But for a country like India what is the effect at the grass root level is not very clear. Common man has been touched by this flattening resulting in the growth of the middle class. A simple example of the flattening. When ten years back a person wanted to sell his property he would go to a property agent and will be at agent’s mercy to what value he gets for his properties worth. But today the seller is much more aware and has access to the information (internet) that was not easily available ten years back. He is no more at the mercy of the agent. This flattening is caused by the easily available information which was not the case ten years back and the people having the knowledge would often misuse it. They would create an environment of fear and uncertainness in the mind of innocent people. Internet has been a great flattener.
The work environment has flattened. The hierarchies in today’s offices are vanishing. It’s becoming a more level playing field where everyone’s voice is being heard.
The news media of today has also played a major role in this flattening. Taking news to the gullible public and bringing out the reality of the politicians, police, doctors, actors, etc who try to fool or con them.