The
most significant flattener from Tom Friedman was on August 9, 1995 when a
company by the name of Netscape from California went public. This event
flattened the world in many ways, creating a much more globalized economy. The
first way in which it did this was through bringing the internet to life. Netscape
had provided us with an internet browser that allowed us to pull up web pages
and all their content easily and efficiently. The second way in which Netscape
flattened the world was through the creation of a commercialized open
transmission protocol. This open communication protocol made it so that no one
company could dominate the internet. This set of open communication protocols
again leveled out the walls that had been between users of different internet
providers. The third and according to Tom Friedman, most important thing that
Netscape did was to start the dot com boom. This in turn triggered what he
refers to as the dot com bubble. This dot com bubble triggered the accidental
investment in laying fiber optic cable. This one trillion dollar investment
laid cables that stretched over both land and see, connecting the world. This
over investment in the fiber optic cable created the accidental effect that
whole countries were neighbors of countries that could be thousands of miles
away. This abundance in fiber optic cable drastically drove down the cost of
transmitting voice, words, and data that the cost for such services became
basically free. Once everyone had realized the high demand for this fiber optic
cable, everyone from fly by nighters to large corporations began to lay cable.
This over abundance caused the price for telecommunications to drop drastically
worldwide. Friedman compares this to when the United States made the railroads
and we as a nation got to ride for free, the difference being that in the
global laying of fiber optic cable India and China got to ride for free.
This is
insightful and undoubtedly the greatest of the flatteners because it allowed
the world to connect as a whole and without this the world today would not have
the global economy it does because there would still be barriers in the way
. 
Mike I agree with everything that you have stated. I also decided that the most important flattener was the release of the Internet as well. If you look at everything that the Internet has done for the world how can you not. You can do anything from shopping, to Skyping, to communicating with someone halfway around the world. Also I believe that a lot of the other flatteners that are talked about are in relation to the Internet being so successful. It globalized markets and make business all in all a better, easier, and more efficient worldwide.
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