Overwhelmed, Overran
After taking a break with David Sedaris' Naked and Holidays on Ice, I'm back to reading non-fiction stuff. I'm now one-fourth into reading The World is Flat by Pulitzer Prize Winner Thomas L. Friedman. The experience so far is overwhelming; much of what I read are new to me not because I was totally unaware of it but more like those information which I deliberately ignore and take comfort at benefitting from without totally understanding. Those bits of information are those which I have categorized along with how exactly does a jumbo jet stay afloat in the air. Yeah, I know bits and pieces why it does, or the general idea why such is possible but it was a choice to just live with it. Afterall, I do not need to know everything about the world, I am not God, and the less I know, the more peace I'll have in my life, that is, peace, brought about by faith.
My peace disturbed, yeah, that's what happened after reading the first parts of The World is Flat. What particularly disturbed me is the knowledge that, as the world veers toward globalization at the collapse of communism, there are also those who resist it due to their religious convictions - the Islamic extremists, who are motivated enough to disrupt with the ultimate purpose to avert the onslaught of globalization of capitalism. To me, it is not a new thought that the world, well at the very least our globalized world, have become so much dependent on the advances in telecommunications such as satellites and the internet. Due to outsourcing of services, many businesses are able to cut costs and be more profitable. On the other hand, many individuals and families gain employment as outsourced service providers. Even offshored productions, such as those in China, are highly dependent on the advances in telecommunications with respect to transporting these goods and delivering them where they are needed. Focusing on the internet, made possible by fiber optic innovations, my question on how it actually works was answered, the answer which had long been staring at my face: Fiber optic networks are fiber optic cables physically laid beneath the earth, along the ocean floor - continent to continent. Of course! I remember when I was in U.P., they had to dig and lay down the fiber optic cables around the campus before the entire campus was connected. Of course! They did the same around the world! It is actually mind boggling but after reading about the telegraph cables connecting Manila and San Francisco and the Oil Pipelines from Alaska down to the other States, it was indeed how we are connected via the internet right now. Realizing this, I was gripped with fear. If there fiber optic cables are physically laid down the ocean floor, they are definitely unguarded unlike the oil pipes in Alaska. Given the drive and the technology in possession of terrorists who detest the current world order foisted on, nay, embraced by the world, it is not entirely far fetched for them to target bringing down satellites, destroying fiber optic cables which would result in the disruption of rendering of services, stoppage of production, all of which could lead to another stock market crash, recession, famine, global chaos. It is dreadful, horrible.
We are so vulnerable. We have made ourselves so vulnerable.
Sigh. I've had enough. I sometimes hate it when my mind is stimulated too much. I thus went back to reading 1421 on China's maritime feats pre-European navigation.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
My peace disturbed, yeah, that's what happened after reading the first parts of The World is Flat. What particularly disturbed me is the knowledge that, as the world veers toward globalization at the collapse of communism, there are also those who resist it due to their religious convictions - the Islamic extremists, who are motivated enough to disrupt with the ultimate purpose to avert the onslaught of globalization of capitalism. To me, it is not a new thought that the world, well at the very least our globalized world, have become so much dependent on the advances in telecommunications such as satellites and the internet. Due to outsourcing of services, many businesses are able to cut costs and be more profitable. On the other hand, many individuals and families gain employment as outsourced service providers. Even offshored productions, such as those in China, are highly dependent on the advances in telecommunications with respect to transporting these goods and delivering them where they are needed. Focusing on the internet, made possible by fiber optic innovations, my question on how it actually works was answered, the answer which had long been staring at my face: Fiber optic networks are fiber optic cables physically laid beneath the earth, along the ocean floor - continent to continent. Of course! I remember when I was in U.P., they had to dig and lay down the fiber optic cables around the campus before the entire campus was connected. Of course! They did the same around the world! It is actually mind boggling but after reading about the telegraph cables connecting Manila and San Francisco and the Oil Pipelines from Alaska down to the other States, it was indeed how we are connected via the internet right now. Realizing this, I was gripped with fear. If there fiber optic cables are physically laid down the ocean floor, they are definitely unguarded unlike the oil pipes in Alaska. Given the drive and the technology in possession of terrorists who detest the current world order foisted on, nay, embraced by the world, it is not entirely far fetched for them to target bringing down satellites, destroying fiber optic cables which would result in the disruption of rendering of services, stoppage of production, all of which could lead to another stock market crash, recession, famine, global chaos. It is dreadful, horrible.
We are so vulnerable. We have made ourselves so vulnerable.
Sigh. I've had enough. I sometimes hate it when my mind is stimulated too much. I thus went back to reading 1421 on China's maritime feats pre-European navigation.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
Labels: Globalization, Non-Fiction Books
posted by wernicke at 9:26 AM
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