Globalization is now an ubiquitous word.
We hear and read it everywhere. Perhaps none of the earlier epochs that have affected the course of humanity were more spectacular
and dramatic than the evolution of a highly interdependent global society -- a global village or city in which a thing has
value only if it has any utility.
The advances in technology,
communication systems [see blue text below for more on advances in communications systems] and
trade have brought about unprecedented developments in the lives of the people on the globe. However, all these developments
have not led to much improvement in the quality of life. On the one hand, many of the problems faced by humanity remain unsolved,
and on the other, a lot of new problems have emerged. Nobody is sure of the consequences if the challenges posed by the global
phenomena are not met. (Erosion of human values, onslaught of materialism, spread of fantastic entertainment, etc.)
We have to examine the process of globalization critically. Recently an international
forum on globalization stated that "it is not the latest phase of human progress but rather an ideology imposed on the world
by transnational corporations and their followers in governments and universities" (Jay Walljasper, 1996).
Globalization can be seen as having gone on for centuries and it is bound with
capitalist modernity and the expansion of the capitalist system. Therefore it is not new. For the developing countries it
is the modern version of "colonization."
But globalization is not a mere economic or political issue. It has immense
effects on the culture and values of life in each place. It is in the realm of culture that globalization is most visible
and apparent. Globalization is leading to cultural homogeneity. There is a rapidly spreading consumer culture initiated by
multinational companies like McDonald's and Coca-Cola. The world is now full of products, images and ideas like Madonna, rap
music or Hollywood films, which are shown as "global popular" almost to the extinction of distinctive native forms of culture
and entertainment. "New technologies are changing the nature of work and creating new forms of leisure, including the hyperreality
of cyberspace, new virtual realities, and new modes of information and entertainment. Capital is producing a new technoculture,
a new form of the entertainment and information society, and everything from education to work to politics and everyday life
is dramatically changing. The desire for material progress has gripped the world. Even the youth are running after money and
enjoyments rather than ideals. There is an ideological vacuum in people's minds. The future seems to be only for those who
grab. The jungle law of the survival of the fittest is coming back.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the world is now ruled by a handful of
multinational corporations. Their empires are much bigger than any previous ones in history -- Greek, Roman, French or British.
They cannot be controlled by any national governments, individually nor collectively. They can bring any nation to its knees
if it fails to follow their norms. No community on earth can enjoy security, prosperity and satisfaction without their blessings.
"... not only that corporate powers control the world's traffic in microchips and millet, but also the flow of information,
entertainment, culture, and basic ideas about what constitutes the good life" (Jay Walljasper, 1996). The divisions among
human beings -- "the haves and the have-nots" -- have taken new connotations: earlier they were mainly based on money and
power; now they depend upon information and technology (the tools to control the world).
Globalization is the good news to some who are capable of international competition,
but not so good news for those who fall behind.
The "winners" have as much at stake from the possible consequences of social instability as the
"losers." Dani Rodrik says "... social disintegration is not a spectator sport -- those on the sidelines also get splashed
with mud from the field. Ultimately, the deepening of social fissures can harm all." Even advanced societies are ill-equipped
to hail the consequences of globalization. It has crated a lot of myths which have been uncritically accepted by many. For
example, one who is not dressed in a particular brand of world class is considered unblessed and unfashionable. "... and all
those problems are intensified by the sense of inferiority and self-hate that arises in people who don't look like the svelte,
blonde actors ... who can't buy all the lovely goods featured in the globalized market place of Benetton" (Jay Walljasper,
1996).
Did you notice that the world stopped spinning for 15 minutes on Saturday afternoon? If you were
enjoying the great outdoors you probably didn't, but if you were at your computer, surfing the web, you might have very well
stumbled on the global catastrophe.
OK, I admit it. Nobody died and no buildings crumbled, but web surfers throughout
the world had to spend a full quarter hour without access to Google or any of its services including news, email and comparison
shopping.
I rely on Google's Gmail email service and had to go without email for a few minutes. How dare they force
me to pick up the phone, or shudder the thought, have a face-to-face conversation to communicate with people?
The
culprit, according to Google spokesman David Krane, was a DNS lookup glitch. DNS, which stands for "Domain Name Server," is
the process that translates friendly domain names like Google.com into those almost impossible to remember IP (Internet Protocol)
addresses. If anyone had typed in Google's actual IP address (http://216.239.37.99/), they would have reached the site during the outage, according to Krane.
The web, of course, was swirling with speculation
as to whether Google had been hacked and, indeed, respected blogger and journalist Om Malik (http://gigaom.com/) reported
that he and other web users had been misdirected to another web page when they typed in Google.com. That, Malik posted later,
may have been a "result of browsers not being able to resolve to Google.com, and instead (stumbling) upon google.com.net."
Why We Care
What's most interesting about this story is not that Google was down for 15 minutes. That
can happen to any website and, indeed has happened to many well-known sites many times over the years.
What's interesting
here is that we care. I first heard about it when I got a call from an editor at a radio station who, rightfully, considered
it news. The Associated Press reported on the outage and, of course, I'm writing about it here.
The fact is that Google
isn't just any website. It's part of the daily routines of tens of millions of people around the world. It's probably an understatement
to say that a Google outage is as important a story if a major TV network went black or if the phone company couldn't get
calls through for a few minutes.
The fact that Google's 15-minute outage was noticed says wonders about how the world
has come to depend on that company which, just a few years ago, was simply a good idea by a couple of Stanford graduate students.
I could go on for pages on what that means, both technologically and philosophically. I think it says something about
our sense of priorities. Like cell phones and other technologies we've come to depend on, what was unavailable yesterday is
indispensable today.
Of course the reverse is also true. Back in the 70s, I was devastated when my IBM Selectric typewriter
was out of order. Today, a typewriter repair shop is about as popular as businesses that service buggy whips. In fact, as
I typed the word "Selectric," I noticed that Microsoft Word flagged it as a misspelling. Three decades ago, it was almost
a household word that certainly would have been in spell checkers - if there were any at the time.
That fact is not
lost on smart people who run companies like Google. The good ones know that they have no God-given right to remain relevant.
If they don't keep innovating, their role in the world will be right down there with that of the typewriter, eight-track tape
deck and the rest of yesterday's news.
I remember when AltaVista was the best search engine on the web - until it
was eclipsed by Yahoo and Google. I also remember when the two leading ways to get online were companies called CompuServe
and Prodigy. As these companies have learned, it's not just a question of keeping your business "up," it's also a matter of
keeping it up-to-date.
Video Search
Yahoo, by the way, has been busy keeping itself up-to-date. Its
new video search service is amazing. What's fun about it is that you can use it to find video clips from yesterday.
Go
to Yahoo, clicking on the video link and trying typing in "3 Stooges" or "John Kennedy." I'm not sure if all the people posting
those video clips are in compliance with the copyright law, but they - along with Yahoo and other video search services -
are sure keeping the web fun and interesting.
A syndicated technology columnist for nearly two decades, Larry Magid serves as on
air Technology Analyst for CBS Radio News. His technology reports can be heard several times a week on the CBS
Radio Network. Magid is the author of several books including "The Little PC Book."
