The World Is Flat

I am familiar with Thomas Friedman's work, both his books and his regular media appearances and columns. I cannot say that he's ever impressed me; his observations are usually banal, his conclusions always march with elite opinion, and his analyses are shallow at best.

This applies to the segment of The World Is Flat that we've been asked to read. The global workday is 24/7, work can be done from anyone via the internet, all the world's 'knowledge pools' are becoming connected. Man, this is banal. It didn't take computers to accomplish these things; for centuries, communications have gotten faster and people more connected- but he doesn't seem to know how connected they were even in, say, Roman times whenempires stretched across Eurasia. World trade (compared to the world's GDP) still hasn't reached its pre-World War I peak. China and India have been taking manufacturing jobs for decades; what's different is that now Friedman's white-collar readers find themselves threatened by the brown and yellow hordes. (Yes, he's about that subtle.)

I cannot say that he's changed my perspective in any way or given me any knowledge I didn't already know. I only agree with the most basic of his observations, and generally don't find his writing at all impressive or persuasive, especially since he drraws no useful conclusions.

Third Blogger Assignment- The End of Privacy

This assignment asks wehtehr it will be possible to maintain personal privacy and civil rights in the wake of continuing advances in technology.

I think the answer is already clear from the last eight years. The Bush Administration has shown us that giving them the power to monitor telephone and internet ensures that they will be abused by someone at some point. Despite courageous whistleblowers and defenders of civil liberties, our right to privacy has been systematically dismantled.

Will Obama change that? There is NO reason to think so. Obama supported the loosening of FISA restrictions that made the Bushes' abuses possible if not exactly legal. It is very easy to see a scenario where he is convinced that he HAS to continue monitoring in the face of people who are violently opposed to his administration and who are genuine threats to the commonweal. (This should not be taken as an attack on Obama; any administration will face the same dilemma.)

That doesn't even mention the increasing intrusion of commercial monitoring. What many people see as beneficial (allowing them to see just the ads for things they're interesting in buying) can quickly become harmful, especially if that information is sent to the government.

So I cannot say that I am optimistic about privacy in the 21st century.

Second Blog Assignment- Business Idea

We have been asked to detail a business idea that can be helped along by the internet, using skills that we possess and enjoy using.

This is both easier and harder than it sounds.

My skils set an interests are intimately related with numbers- statistics, accounting, and the sciences. Since some of the very first advances in computer programming were designed to deal with just these areas (MISs and so forth), it would seem logical to assume that internet technology would go well with them.

One idea that would have merit is real-time financial monitoring. It is now technically feasible to continuously monitor a company's financial holdings. We already know that sales can be monitored in near-real time. As a result, it is now possible to put together complete real-time financial statements to continuously monitor a company's position, and to provide some or all of this information for a fee to anyone who requests it.

However, what would be the market? Most companies are not anxious to have this information out there, even if security is assured. It would probably require additional financial regulation requiring such monitoring for this idea to be viable. That said, the events since mid-September have been wild enough that this is now a real possibility. There are simply too many companies that have been "healthy" on Wednesday and bankrupt on Friday for regulators or investors to take chances.

The Jenkins Blog Extraordinaire!

Welcome to the first blog post of the Jenkins Blog Extraordinaire!

I chose to enter accounting as a major because I have a natural facility with numbers, there is a great deal of demand for accountants (especially with today's shaky financial institutions, which will need a lot of help to restore their balance sheets), and because it wouldn't take me too long to finish my education.