The World Is Flat 3.0 (Thomas Friedman)

• Link to Friedman's Keynote Address (MIT Milestone Celebration)
• More MIT Milestone Celebration Videos (2007)
• MIT World - 'The World is Flat' Video (2005)
• Thomas Friedman's Homepage

THE WORLD IS FLAT 3.0?
"The World Is Flat 3.0 is Thomas L. Friedman's account of the great changes taking place in our time, as lightning-swift advances in technology and communications put people all over the globe in touch as never before-creating an explosion of wealth in India and China, and challenging the rest of us to run even faster just to stay in place.

The World Is Flat 3.0 is an essential update on globalization, its opportunities for individual empowerment, its achievements at lifting millions out of poverty, and its drawbacks--environmental, social, and political, powerfully illuminated by the Pulitzer Prize--winning author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree (Source)."

I have a Dream (King)! Go Green (Friedman)! Yes, We Can (Obama)!

FRIEDMAN TALK?

Thomas Friedman gave a great talk at MIT Milestone Celebration on November 28, 2007, which is available (below) for FREE to explore, learn from, and reflect.

In this great talk, he shares with us how he by accident discovered that the 'World is Flat', the four flatteners, the evolution of Globalization (1.0 - Countries, 2.0 - Companies, 3.0 - Individuals) , the importance of nurturing and promoting individual imagination and mash-ups to gain a competitive edge, the importance of mastering more than one discipline, his upcoming book, "Green is the new Red, White, and Blue" (YouTube - Tom Friedman on Clean Energy), and much more.

Yeah, we know that the 19th Century belongs to Great Britain, and the 20th Century belongs to the United States, but which country will the 21st Century belong to? China, India or United States? Nope! It will probably go to Google, a dynamic region somewhere, or perhaps an individual that has not been born yet.

"Washington is brain-dead" (Dumb as they want to be!), but the United States is alive and kicking much thanks to their creative and innovative culture, and this is an area we need to learn more about, reflect, adapt and customize to our needs and way of life to compete in a global economy that is increasingly driven by creativity, innovation and ideas.

Finally, the great challenge for the 21 century will be dealing with global warming, pollution and the increasing global toxic consumption of nature. The only way out of this is to Go Green (which makes business sense, too!); innovate disruptive, cheap, and scalable energy-efficient consumption technologies, and discover new forms of energy (In addition, we need to consume with Green sense and caution!). The new disruptive secret Green energy innovation might not be water, hydrogen, air, solar energy, or Superman (Sorry, Dwight Howard!).

Imagine driving a car, or flying a plane using only human energy (Flintstones!). I like to call it 'Human Touch'! Now that is disruptive and Green, but is it possible? :)