Module 5: Triple Convergence, India/na and Intellectual Property

     I have really enjoyed listening to this book as an audiobook over the last several weeks. Every listen has sent me into a long internal discussion in my head of how great it is. These flatteners have been present in my life for most of my life, but never really thought about them as such. I will be recommending it to several other technical people that I have been friends with over the years. It adds a new perspective into our busy lives.
     Friedman begins his discussion about how these flatteners have come together to really start carrying us forward. As I mentioned above, if you think about it, our lives are really becoming very oriented around the Internet and the Personal Computer. In general, they are usually the first thing we do when we wake up, and the last thing we do when we go to bed. This is just more evidence to the fact that these flatteners are real, and they are going to continue to make this world even flatter. This is where Friedman begins his discussion about the Triple Convergence.
     The first of the triple convergence is about how the PC is taking over tasks that we, as humans, used to have to do. Simple things like shopping is not nearly human-free. No phone conversation with anyone, just click-click, order. Other things like checking-in to your flight from your mobile phone are also good examples of this. No human intervention means less need for personnel, and more money in businesses pockets.
     The second one is the way that these flatteners have changed how we do business. The power we hold inside a computer allows us to perform tasks much faster, which means efficiency. New ways of doing things are being created every day with the creative minds around the world. This brings us to the last of the three convergences which is the ability that others, overseas, have had to be able to connect and collaborate due to the flattening of the world. These three convergences wrap up these flatteners and make them all work together to improve our bottom-line.
     In the story about Indiana and India, it sounds like a complete train wreck altogether. Any opportunities to invest money locally (especially with government funds) should be done in all cases. If ever possible the tax money should be invested in the citizens. Since money could have been saved, it makes sense how it happens. The people of Indiana were exploited and the state officials were the exploiters. These types of mistakes definitely hurt, but lessons will be learned and not made again. I'm sure stories like this will becoming more common, hopefully the bottom-line will be about creating jobs in American to invest in our future.
     Intellectual Property is a topic that is very sensitive in the world today. The digitization of every things that we do is proving to make that intellectual property a lot harder to protect. The government is trying to step in and take control of it recently with SOPA and PIPA laws, but the Internet nationwide stood up and put a temporary stop to it. As IP becomes harder to control, Hollywood needs to become smarter about delivering their content. It's tough, because people will always pirate movies, but easier delivery of the content and lowering costs could turn out to be the problem solver. They'll be making less money, yes, but at least they'll make something off of all of the movies that are being distributed online.
     My bet is that the government will eventually gain more control of what we can/can't see online, but the geniuses of the country will find ways around it. I'm sure more control will be awarded to them eventually, but hopefully the details of what is controlled will be better defined before the law gets passed, otherwise a book about the "rounding-out" of the world will be next. :)