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This blog is for Watauga High School students taking the Scientific and Technical Visualization class. We are reading and discussing Thomas Friendman's book "The World is Flat". Watauga High School is not responsible for the content of any student entry or any links that might be added by students.
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In this chapter, Friedman talks about how the internet has made activism easy and cheap for anyone. The average person has more power than ever before. All you have to do is put it on the internet and it can get out there. Friedman tells a story about a huge Texas energy company wanting to build environmentally dangerous power plants, and wouldn't let anyone tell them otherwise. However, companies don't really have the power to do that anymore. People who opposed these new plants simple created a website, and built a huge following of people who wanted it stopped. Eventually, they got several other big companies to propose to buy them out, and in the end, the number of plants built was drastically reduced. All this was because of a few dedicated activists. Friedman's overall point in this chapter is that if you are not getting something you want changed changed, its because you're too lazy. Almost everyone now has the ability to get things changed if they really want to. Things no longer run like they used to, everyone has some power in the new flat world, and its not hard to accomplish things that used to would have been nearly impossible. The internet has nearly unlimited possibility in this area but whether or not we choose to utilized it is our decision.
In chapter 13, Friedman talks about the internet and how it makes things easier and cheaper for everyone. One really good example of this was the opposition to the Texas power company, and how they created a website, and eventually had enough support to stop it. I like Ethan's view of Friendman's overall view that if you are not getting something you want changed changed, its because you're too lazy. Due to the easy access and use of the internet everyone can have a say and like Friedman said before small business's can act big and this is one way how.
In this chapter Friedman talks about how the internet is cheaper for everyone. The internet is more open and easier to access, everybody is on the internet. In this chapter they also talk about a texas power company.
In chapter 13, it discusses the internet and the vast effects it has and will have on this new globalized flat world. Now mere nobodies have as much power as anyone else when it comes to research and use of the internet. If you have an idea and you leaved in Germany before then you could get your idea out to the majority of Germany with some work but now with the use of the internet you can get that idea out to the entire world. Greatly opening business opportunities for people all over the world. So now you cant have the excuse of not being able to share you idea with a big enough market to be profitable because now the WORLD is your market and the people of it your customers.
The Internet makes expressing yourself cheap and easy. One example is that a number of people opposed the construction of a number of environmentally dangerous power plants in Texas, so they built a web site and got a huge following of people with similar beliefs. Every group you could think of utilizes the Internet now. From Neo-nazi activists to a high school class, there are groups using the Internet to interact and express themselves.
This chapter is actually quite repetitive with it being about how anyone and everyone can make a difference now. It's not like back in the old days where it took a nation to change the world, all it takes is one voice thanks to the internet and being able to get your voice out there. The petition to stop the Texas energy plant is actually a common thing these days, there are all sorts of petitions for this and that all over the internet, which kind of lessens their effect but they can still be effective. He is also once again trying to inspire readers by putting out the message that if we don't get out there nad do what we want done, we're basically going to be screwed.
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