Global Competition

Global Competition

The world is flatter. This is good because those of us in the United States seem to be falling asleep. We aren't as competitive as we used to be. Many expect that they will be guaranteed a well paying job, but that isn't true - it never has been true. More so now than ever, we are involved in a global competition for jobs. We all must strive to perform better than each other if we want to be paid well. This will drive progress.

In an ideal world, we wouldn't compete with each other. Everyone would have a job they enjoy and that they can excel at without competing with others for it. But we don't live in an ideal world. We live in a world with naturally lazy people that try to satisfy their desires with the least amount of effort. If all those who choose to be lazy are allowed to do so, society would be severely hindered in its progress. Would the hunters and gathers have become anything more if they had succumbed to laziness? With the incentive of financial power, many are enticed to compete so they can fuel their natural desire for power. Progress is a natural side-effect of competition that benefits many. Compare our life today with life of hunters and gatherers: we can communicate with people all over the world; we live in comfortable buildings; we take food for granted; and we understand more about the world around us.

Everyone will have a job. The number of jobs that can be filled is infinite. When jobs are replaced by technology or outsourcing, more jobs are created. The computer replaced many jobs, but many jobs have been created by the computer: computer scientists, information technology departments, computer factories, and many more. Outsourcing will have the same effect. As jobs are shipped overseas, more jobs will be created at home. The limiting factors are entrepreneurship and education. Those who lag behind the changing environment risk difficulty in finding a job, but not all jobs can be outsourced: on-site construction, counseling, management, and many more. As Thomas Friedman pointed out, those with higher education move up in their jobs to care for the more difficult parts of the job as the menial parts of the job are sent to those who can accomplish them. For example, he pointed out an artist that concentrated on sketches as artists in India filled in the colors and shading. The artist concentrates on the creativity, and artists in India concentrate on completing the picture. The ideas will start at home, and their development will occur abroad. Much knowledge remains to be discovered; therefore, the levels that can be achieved are limitless.

In the end, the flattening of the world is beneficial for all. Those abroad now have higher paying jobs, and those with more education can concentrate their efforts on increasing knowledge and wisdom.

Persistence of Hierarchal Organization

The Library of Congress contained about 20.5 million books at the end of the year 2006 (http://www.loc.gov/about/reports/). If one person read one book per day, that person would finish reading every book in the Library of Congress about 56,126 years after beginning. It is impossible for one person to know everything in this life. Because one person will not know everything, groups of "followers" develop around the respective experts of various fields. If someone wants advice about something, he will seek out someone he knows that he considers the most knowledgeable about the subject.

Instead of replacing hierarchies, the flattening of the world will improve them as current experts are replaced with better experts. People don't have time to read hundreds of blogs to find answers. They prefer to read one blog that is correct and complete than dozens of blogs that contain only part of the information being sought, or that are inaccurate.