Thomas Friedman's presentation on globalization and the flat world.

The emergence of a flat world.

With a simple, intuitive, yet persuasive and clear presentation, journalist Thomas Friedman outlined the basic elements of the "flat world" in the 21st-century era of globalization. According to him, there are four main elements that bring people closer together, enhance communication and interaction, and erase geographical distances: the personal computer (PC), the Internet, workflow management software, and online search engines.

All these factors have contributed to boosting global interaction and enabling individuals to create, share, promote, and seek information across vast geographical distances. In other words, they have made the world "flatter." Remarkably, all of this emerged in the year 2000, a time when information technology and globalization were booming and widespread. These are also the themes that inspired Thomas Friedman's 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 transformed humanity from "connected" to "hyperconnected," from "interdependent" to "mutually dependent." The flat world offers many benefits to people by enabling them to contribute to the global value chain through the assistance of information technology.

With the emergence and development of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, the "flatness" of the platform became even more apparent, as each individual could convey their message on their personal page. Communication became increasingly interactive and multifaceted. Anyone could create and invent their own products to compete and collaborate with others.

From a macro perspective, to maximize opportunities and address challenges in the era of globalization, countries need to be resilient and pay particular attention to three key elements: education, the rule of law, and infrastructure. According to him, Vietnam is no exception.

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

Young people are excited about the flat world.

During the Q&A session, journalist Thomas Friedman received numerous 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 a flat world, the impacts of globalization, the role of journalism in globalization, the development of information technology in Vietnam, etc.

Thomas Friedman enthusiastically received and answered all the questions and opinions, demonstrating the interest and enthusiasm of Vietnamese youth in the flat world.

It is known that, in addition toThe world is flat.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).