Thomas Friedman's presentation on globalization and the flat world

The emergence of the flat world

With a simple, intuitive but convincing and clear presentation, journalist Thomas Friedman outlined the basic elements of the “Flat World” in the 21st century globalization era. According to him, there are four main elements that bring people closer together, enhance communication interaction and erase geographical distance: the personal computer (PC), the Internet network system, workflow management software and online search tools.

All these factors have contributed to the enhancement of global interaction and helped individuals create, share, promote and search for common information despite the great geographical distance. In other words, the world has become “flatter”. What is special is that all of them appeared in 2000, when information technology and globalization developed strongly and widely. These are also the topics that prompted Thomas Friedman to write the book “The World is Flat”.

Journalist Thomas Friedman has an engaging, captivating and approachable presentation style (Photo: Jackie Chan/USSH)

Consequences of a flat world

According to Thomas Friedman, the flat world has made people change from “connected” to “hyperconnected”, from “interdependent” to “reliant on each other”. The flat world brings many benefits to people by helping them contribute to the global value chain through the help of information technology.

With the advent and development of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, “flatness” became even more evident as individuals could post their own messages on their personal pages. Communication became more interactive and multi-dimensional. Everyone could create and invent their own products to compete and collaborate with others.

On a macro level, to maximize opportunities and cope with challenges in the era of globalization, countries need to have good resilience and pay special attention to three factors: education, rule of law and infrastructure. According to him, Vietnam is no exception.

The presentation was attended by many students from the Diplomatic Academy and the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.(Photo: Jackie Chan/USSH)

Young people are eager for a flat world

During the Q&A session, journalist Thomas Friedman received many questions and opinions from students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the Diplomatic Academy on issues surrounding globalization and technology such as opportunities and challenges for Vietnam in the flat world, the impacts of globalization, the role of journalism in globalization, the development of information technology in Vietnam, etc.

Questions and comments were warmly received and answered by Thomas Friedman, demonstrating the interest and enthusiasm of Vietnamese youth in the flat world.

It is known that, in addition toFlat world, Thomas Friedman has published four other books,From Beirut to Jerusalem(1989) (From Beirut to Jerusalem),The Lexus and the Olive Tree(1999) (The Lexus and the Olive tree),Longitude and Attitude(2002) (Longitudes and Attitudes),Hot, Flat and Crowded(Hot, Flat and Crowded) (2008).