Baby Steps

Blink...and the world has just left you behind. I was just at this talk by Thomas Friedman a couple of weeks ago with two classmates, and he talks about his book "the world is flat." I haven't read his book prior to the lecture, but you can tell from some of the faces in the auditorium that others had--they were starting to wonder why they had even bothered buying his book. But don't get me wrong, it was a pretty great lecture. It's just that he did such a great job covering his book in the lecture that most people wondered why they even bothered with the book. But I digress.

Friedman's whole premise was that we are in an age of such advanced technological innovation that the whole world is connected in mere seconds. The world is getting flatter, and America is not ready for it. He describes a huge interplay of events (including 9/11) that distracted Americans from the rest of world while the world slowly leveled the global playing field. Friedman's lecture was of course much more engaging than I can ever do justice to with just three sentences, but I don't intend to summarize his points--you'll have to buy the book or find one of his lectures (personally I recommend the lecture, I heard the book is tedious)--my purpose for writing this post is to talk about baby steps.

Ok for those of you who have no idea why I would go through two whole paragraphs (I know it feels much longer than that) talking about Friedman (and not doing a great job at that) and see no connection whatsoever to "baby steps," you are the reason why this entire next two paragraphs exist.

Americans need to start taking baby steps. I am sure most of you will agree that America is at the forefront of many technological innovations, but I propose that Americans have been at the forefront of technology for so long that they forgot what it's like to be at the tail end. In health care innovations, Americans are the slowest to adopt technologies that have become common placed in other countries. Time-saving, cost-cutting health care technologies such as the smart card utilized in other countries for years is only starting to get some hype in the states. The prime position that America has held for decades in terms of technological utilization has created an entire population that are laggards when it comes to newer technology. The technological drive of the 20th century is grinding to a halt in America as its citizens believe that they are now far more advanced than any other nation in the world. And why should they think otherwise? Americans are the richest population in the entire world, most lead rather comfortable lives, and few even bother to find out what is going on out there in the rest of world. Yet this myopic American view of the world has allowed the rest of the world to creep past America in the technology race. Americans are busy resting in their outdated technologies, while the rest of world comes up with better and more efficient technologies. Just look at how Japanese automakers are annihilating American auto companies with their hybrid fuel saving technology.

And who exactly is to blame for putting the brakes on technology in America? We can throw in the usual suspects of government and corporations, but ultimately it comes down to the individual American. While the world laughs at American ignorance, Americans decide to take the only position they know of--arrogance. In perhaps no other culture would one find a population defending their ignorance with such arrogant pride--they scorn the metric system, and laugh at British English. More amusing is their belief that volume can transcend all language barriers as they travel the world. Americans need to start looking at the world as babies do--in awe and amazement, and as a place filled with creativity and discovery--rather than look at the world as a grouchy old parent. America still leads the world in several industries (which I have of course failed to mention hitherto because I do not wear the American flag as an underwear; someone who does can easily tell you how great America is), but to maintain its lead in those industries and regain its lead in other industries that it has fallen behind in, it is imperative that Americans start taking baby steps. Blink, and the world has just left you behind.