Dell Theory

According to Thomas Friedman, the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention is a theory he presented in his book The World Is Flat. The theory stipulates: No two countries that are both part of a major global supply chain, like Dell’s, will ever fight a war against each other as long as they are both part of the same global supply chain. I took a History of the 20th Century class last semester and the professor brought up a similar theory where the rise of global IT will decrease the possibility of a global war, like WWI and II, of ever happening again.


When I first heard of this I thought this could not be true. I always figured there was an inevitable WWIII that was bound to happen. Now, I realize that will never happen now. Once every country in the world becomes industrialized, there will be no more world wars. What country would want to go to war with another country that was full of their own businesses? If this were to happen, the global economy as a whole would collapse. An example would be if the US were to attack Japan like they did in 1945. Japan is now full of US-owned businesses and many businesses that thrive because of the US market. If all imports and exports to and from Japan were blocked, the US economy would take a major hit.

This is just another reason why global IT is such a success. However, the Dell Theory is not a guarantee, it means governments of these countries will have very heavy economic costs if they go to war. A real life example of this theory is the China and Taiwan relationship. Both countries have strong supply relations with each other so a war seems very unlikely today.

Precautionary and proactionary: global warming

Using the precautionary and proactionary approaches discussed in class, the outcomes of an important issue, global warming, will be decided by which of these two we use. Proactionary people believe that we should do all we can now to avoid global warming because of the extreme threat is poses to our society. Precautionary people, on the other hand, believe that we need more data in order to come to a concrete conclusion, and that we should not halt our progress until this happens. Precautionary and proactionary are interchangeable depending on if you view global warming as a threat to the planet or as a threat to business and development.

Global warming has become an incredibly skewed issue in all of our lives. This is largely because of the myriad of political interests that are tied to it. Oil, coal, and electricity are some of the wealthiest players in our society and global warming prevention is not healthy for their business. Politics has now overridden the most key aspect of global warming: the science. It's also my personal opinion that politics is the context in which most Americans view global warming. Take, for example, Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth. This alone shows how strong of a presence politicians have in this debate.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded takes a few pages to touch on the role meteorologists play in global warming. Hot, Flat, and Crowded argues that meteorologists don't discuss the impacts of global warming enough during their on-air sessions. It also claims that this is a vital opportunity to inform the public of the issues and return to the science of global warming. Do you think global warming is widely accepted by most Americans? Do you think it's viable to have global warming discussed on the air?

11th Post-Friedman

Today we talked about Thomas Friedman, the author of the book "The world is flat". We talked about his theories and how it all related to information systems and how everything around the world, works. I decided to look him up and go into his past and see where all of this interest in writting and his education, originated from.
Friedman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1953 where he was raised in a middle class suburb in Minneapolis. Now, fast forwarding some years later to high school, he developed two passions; the middle east and journalism. During his Christmas vacation in 1968-1969 he and his parents went on a trip to Israel and this really sparked his interest in learning more about this topic. His highschool journalism teacher, Hattie Steinburg, was his inspiration in reporting and newspapers. After Hattie's death in 2001, he a column about her in the New York times. So on, after graduating from high school, he attented the University of Minnesota. Friedman recieved his degree in Mediterranian Studies. He spent alot of time at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the American University in Cairo. He later went on to recieve a degree in modern Middle East studies and traveled around alot. As there is a ton of background information on him and his life, there really is no good one spot to stop at in particular.
http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/about-the-author
This is his own website where it shows about the author and tells all about his life and where his journey takes him. It is very interesting to read about and what I have posted for you to read is simply just an introduction into his life. By clicking on the link and following up on the rest of Friedman it will really help you get a better understand of him as a person and what he writes about in his books and articles.