The 21st Century World

Too Frustrated

I thought this section detailed the motivations for Islamic extremism and terrorism very well. The portion of Friedman’s argument that I found most interesting was the section where he discussed how the views of the extremists and the frustrated Muslims are contradictory. Ultimately, these individuals desire a united, fundamentalist Muslim kingdom, yet at the same time, they desire the economic success and power that the West has achieved through open and more secular societies. This contradiction also ties in to how the United States, Europe, and Arab leaders can best fight terrorism. If we opt not to use military force and Arab leaders opt not to simply imprison every extremist, there is no certain method to change the mindset of these fundamentalists because by helping them achieve the economic success they desire, we are viewed as assailing their religion and by supporting theocratic regimes which stifle development, we are viewed as oppressing the people of Islam economically.

Too Many Toyotas

If countries previously outside of the flat world decide to enter this new environment, the world will experience energy and natural resource shortages. With everyone owning homes, cars, and small appliances, Earth will be "junked up, heated up, garaged up, smoked up, and devoured" very quickly. For example, if China continues current trends, China will go from importing seven million barrels of oil to fourteen million a day by 2012. For Earth to accomadate this increase, it would have to find another Saudi Arabia. Since that is impossible, gas prices will increase, we will strenghten the worst political systems, and the environment will become even more damaged. As Friedman states, the flattening process will ultimatly test our ability to leave the Earth in a better shape than when we found it.

My first reacting to the section entitled "Too Many Toyotas" was anger. This was before I read all of the section. At first, I thought that it was presumptuous to declare how bad the impact was of new Chinese lifestyles on the planet while discussing nothing of American energy consumption. It may be true that the rate of cars increasing in China's capital is 1000 per day, but most likely the reason the United States isn't the same is because we already have those cars. I mean, I know many families that have one car per person in their household. However, as I read further into the section, I appreciated Friedman acknowledging that Americans need to first decrease emissions before preaching at other countries in order to be legitimate. I think that we need to look into public transportation as a first step, it is difficult though because that involves drastically changing lifestyles of people that can be stubborn to change.

Too Many Toyotas:

Friedman discusses how more people becoming better off will creat an increase strain on the world's resources, especially energy resources. This will lead to increased pollution, and higher cost competition for the resources that are available. He feels that in the long run the only way to solve this conflict is for the government to encourage innovation and conservation policies, which will enable us to avoid competition for precious fuel resources.

Too sick

I thought that the most important point in this section was in how the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation funded the programs to help those in the unflat world. Instead of just giving money, they financed collaborative thinking from scientists all over the world. After picking out their top 14 ideas, they then gave money to research solutions. This a much better way to fix problem rather than “throwing money” at the problem like people usually do. I thought one of the most interesting comments made was that they were trying to use flat world tools to make tools that will work in a unflat world. I think that is where a lot of charities run into problems. They come up with good solutions, but they don’t work in the lack of heath care system, or they need medical experts to play a large role in normal distribution. This is not viable in the unflat world.

Too Frustrated
The easiest way to identify with a situation that you are not actually dealing with is to compare events in your life with the event taking place, and draw conclusions according to your own life experience. This is undoubtedly an incorrect way of judging, as everyone’s lives are very different. Friedman’s example of the government in Arab and Muslim countries was a good one. It is doubtful that many born and raised Americans can even remotely identify with the hardship that comes with living under an authoritarian government. To not have the freedom to say what you want to say and do what you want to do is something that I personally cannot understand, nor would I try to, if given the choice. We make our assumptions that there are terrorists and Jihads in the middle east, and we do not take into account the many thousands of people who are not that different from us, but are being oppressed by those in power. We do live in a very trusting society, and I agree that it is an essential component in creating a flat world. Our roots are all more similar than some would like to admit, but some people got luckier than others did. I think that in order to break down the barriers that Friedman was talking about we need to open our minds to things we do not understand instead of immediately judging them.

I read the "To Sick" section. I think that it is crazy that such wealth, and such poverty can exist so close to each other. Another thing that i though was amazing is how the cast systum seems to be still alive and well in india. We hear so much about how developed india is, and no one says anything about the feudal systum which is still intact in india. I think that what Gates is doing is great, and i think that the way he is doing it is even better. It is a great idea to involve the entire scientific comunity to solve an international problem. GO BILL GATES!!

I think the 'too sick' section is interesting. I think its really sad about India's Caste system becauase it is almost impossible for the untouchable's children to become successful because other social classes will dislike them if they try to act out of their class, I read an artcle in the New York Times about how a family was killed because their children were attending college and the community felt like they were acting out of their social class.
I think that education is the key to helping the 'unflat' people of the world, but it is difficult to protect them from all the diseases around them. I think there needs to be more attention on children because they are the future.

I think the "too sick" was the section that interested me the most. It talk about the people in the world who have not been touched by the flat world. In their case, this is not a good thing because their problems could be fixed or helped easily with access to the essential stuff like electricity and medical assistance. The diseases mentioned are all treated in the flat world, some better than others, but there is treatment. Some can even be cured and prevented with access to vaccines. I guess the sad thing about this is that most communities who live like this, without electricity or water, live very close the flat world as Friedman states.

Too Many Toyotas

I was surprised when the book talked about how bikes are not as big as they once were in Bejing. I guess it's understandable that the Chinese have upgraded to cars, but the numbers were mind blowing. It said that there were approximately 1,000 new cars every day. I can picture a number like that for the United States, but that's because we are much much larger than Bejing. A down side of all these cars, besides the traffic, is the pollution that they will cause. Bikes are more environmentally friendly and therefore weren't a huge contributor to the environmental issues. This whole thing was just a big shock to me.

Too Frustrated

The problem "Too Frustrated" is keeping the world from becoming entirely flat. I see this becoming much more of a problem in the future as well, and i don't really see a way to fix it, or at least a reasonable one... One thing that is coming out of the "Too Frustrated" problem is the suicide bombers of al-Qaeda and the other Islamist terror organizations. They are even more of a threat because the flattened world makes them loads more powerful and they can band together easier now because how easy it is to communicate. I say that i can't think of a resonable solution because there are so many different reasons they are mad and America can't fix them all and has caused some of them. One of the obvious problems, in the muslims eyes, is the israeli occupationn of Palestinian land and East Jerusalem. I dont see the USA ever changing its stand here so i dont see that being a resonable solution. There isn't a resonable solution for this solution to lower the anger level here or in the other problems either. These groups do lots of damage to the flattening because they are angry. ONe of the main reasons these groups hurt the flattening because they take away one key element in the flatting of the world, trust. They use common objects such as cars or planes to make people scared and lose trust in the rest of the world, because they are getting bombed by someone out there, and losing trust in thier safty in their every day life, because tehy are scared they could die at any molment. This threat isn't gonna go away and i expect it to keep growing worse...

Too Many Toyotas

interesting facts to me
- if the entire world lived like the American dream, there would be many problems

- cars are being added evrywhere, theree are 1 thousand cars added to bejjing a day and 30,000 a month, this means bikes are being taken away and more trafic is added

-SARS outbreak increased the buying of cars

- if china continues trends they will double their oil consumption from 7 mil to 14 mil

-one person cannot fix the energy consumption crisis by putting a solar panal on their house, insead the government and people collectively need to help out and do their part

Too Many Toyotas

I liked this one the most because Friedmen says if everyone was rich basically nothing would work and everything would be screwed up. He mentions the American Dream as an example here. I also likes how he says in the long run governments are going to need to encourage innovation and new polices to help save the worlds environment and resources.

Too Many Toyotas

I think the part about this section that shocked me the most was first of all, the statistics about how quickly China is progressing. The really interesting part for me however, was what Pan Yue said and the statistics that he gave. I was shocked to learn about how rapidly the chinese population has grown yet the poor condition China is currently in. When I pictured China, I always thought of it as a blossoming industrial utopia. Never would I have imagined that twenty-four out of thirty-one provinces are having power shortages, nor that half of the water in the largest rivers is useless!

Too many toyotas

One of the things that i found most concerning was the rapid increase of cars in China. With China's increased economic success more people have been able to afford cars rather than bikes. However, this raises the issues of increased pollution and limited oil recourses. I agree with Friedman that the only way to resolve these issues is for governments to encourage conservation and and more research into more efficient vehicles.

Too Sick

It is absolutely inconceivable that the overwhelming majority of so many large countries like China and India live in such poverty, with disease rampant everywhere. All the statistics Friedman cites is so ANGERING because i want all the super rich to read them and then I'd want them to say why they aren't giving money to improve these people's lives. As I read the book leading up to this section, it was always in my mind how Friedman is only talking about a very small segment of the world's population. But he acknowledges this when he says the the tech/development workers in India, which he has pretty much spent the whole book talking about, make up only .2% of the workers in India.

Too Frustrated

The most interesting thing for me was Friedman's assessment of how terrorists create fear by destroying trust. If there is no trust, countries tend to stay isolated and "walled," so there exists no exchange of ideas and cultures. I also thought that the explanation into the 9/11 hijackers' moderate backgrounds was particularly surprising. I agree with Friedman that humiliation, not poverty, ultimately drives people to terroristic extremes. In the flat world leaders can no longer shroud their populations in ignorance, and this can create many problems with discontent. However, this exposure can also help many downtrodden populations realize their true potential. If people can see democracy in places like Europe and the US, they may want to emulate that at home and rise up against the autocratic barriers that prevent their progress. I know Friedman points to various instances where that has the opposite effect, but I still think that if the west would do something to improve its image and reputation, the message could have a positive effect. Friedman seems to say that the anger stems that they are unable to achieve such success, so the anger is self-frustration rather than an irreversible, overt hatred.

too many toyotas

the too many toyotas part reflects the increasing demand of resources. a demand that may not be able to be met. this is what could cause a new damaging effect to the flatend world.

Too Sick

I realized how lucky we all are when I read this section. I forgot how much of a shock it can be for someone to suddenly live a life of luxury after years of sleeping on the streets, drinking unclean water and suffering from diseases without any proper medication. It is near impossible for these people to survive in a flat world because it requires them to adjust to conditions which are much better, but it would take decades to heal the wounds. It seems to me that children should be born into a devloping world rather than outside it.