I found that “The World is Flat” is an educational book. At first, I thought Friedman loved India and everything about it. Later, I learned that Friedman was only educating the reader on what has, is, and will be happening in India. I think that Friedman is right when he suggests that countries will look at globalization as a form of peace. One thing to look at though, is that a country that is supporting itself with food, jobs, and merchandise will have a smaller reason not to go to war with a different country than a country that depends on other countries for its survival.
I find it interesting that the countries that solely rely on oil struggle and are continuously in a slump. It’s only when their oil supply runs dry that they realize that they must think of new ideas and procedures to stay alive and to survive. For this reason, I think oil can be both a blessing and a curse
As we move further into the future, technology will advance, cars will get better, ways to communicate will be faster, and perhaps we’ll be able to find better ways to harvest and expand renewable energy. When these new technologies are discovered, pollution can be slowed, we’ll become more efficient, and science fiction becomes a reality.
More and more each day Star Trek is becoming a reality. One of the things I think about when I watch Star Trek is how are the humans able to communicate with many other intelligent species on their onscreen video? Even species that they have never came in contact with? The technology to be able to do that would have to be very versatile. We have standards for our computers to communicate back and forth, so when we get to the point where space travel is as simple as driving a car, most likely we would have come in contact with other intelligent species from other galaxies. By then, a standard for networks would probably have to become some sort of galactic standard in order to communicate with beings from other planets effectively. Also, when this communication begins the global economy, I think, would become an intergalactic economy with some galactic form of currency.
Another aspect of Star Trek, I think, might become a reality is the holodeck; a holographic room that can display any time, any place, and anybody by simply telling the computer to do so. Voice commands on cell phones are already prevalent and the new IPhone can retrieve news articles, directions, and many more information simply by talking into the phone. I think the real difficult thing to make a holodeck possible is to make the bridge between physical and virtual spaces. Here is a youtube video that describes the physics of a holodeck. Companies are definitely trying to make the holodeck a reality and by doing so; I think that some might lose themselves in the virtual world just like the movie “Inception.”
Overall, I think that the class was a success. I really don’t have any complains of anything in the class, except the reading part. The assignments were fair and one of the best aspects of the class was that no tests were involved. I suggest that it stays that way. When tests get involved in classes similar to this one, many times students focus on memorizing the material. The memorized material gets used once on the test and is then shoved out of mental space never to be used again. Writing essays help individuals understand and learn about what is being taught and read. As I wrote each week, I had to remember, contemplate and use my mind to convey thoughts and feelings from the things I had read.
During the weeks we were reading the book “The World is Flat,” I felt that some of the reading was too much. Maybe the reading could be spread out more over the weeks we didn’t read the book. It was nice having a break once in a while from the book; however, the reading seemed to be extra-long the following week. Again, I think the class was successful and taught all of the objectives for the course.
