Is the world less ‘flat’?
Vietnamese people are gradually getting used to WiFi 6 – the new standard with faster speeds than WiFi 5 – launched by the WiFi Alliance, manufacturers following this standard, so it can be used anywhere in the world.
Billions of people have used international payment cards, watched movies at home without worrying about different systems, had to buy TVs and multi-system video players like 20 years ago. However, the tendency to create one’s own, so as not to depend, to be caught mysterious is reappearing.
People today live more comfortably, save more than thanks to the past few decades the world “closer” to each other to “standardize” many things, or assign production based on the strengths of each place.
The world unites from many electrical outlet standards, phone chargers only have one or two styles, or share WiFi standards so that devices made in the US, Europe or Asia can “plug and play” without having to add accessories or software…
During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have discussed a common standard “vaccine passport” to facilitate travel. Efforts to create “uniform” in standards are not simple, but its benefits are so great that all countries have a common voice.
However, recently, the trend of “upstream” is rekindled when the “common standard” becomes a force and is used as a weapon.
In response, the trend is back to the old days, which is “mine – I use”. Do not accept social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, China set up its own Weibo, Wechat network. Unsettled with the global Internet, the Russians set up their own network platform, ready to operate independently when “interrupted”.
Worried about the global international payment system SWIFT, China set up its own payment system CIPS. And recently, its own operating system, its own chip standard…
But the most obvious is the “fragmentation” of the global supply chain again. When COVID-19 broke out with geopolitical fluctuations, Europe was startled because they depended on supply partners in Asia, as a result, masks were not available when needed.
So they have a strategy, have to do something to produce medical equipment, which cannot be expected from Asia. In the past two years, the US and the European Union have discussed solutions to “restructure” the supply chain, many large corporations have brought their factories back home, despite the very high production costs.
Thus, after decades of bringing production lines to countries with cheaper labor costs, developed countries want to place it at home or in a reliable partner. Criteria for doing business with the goal of targeting consumers, optimizing resources, and making profits… have changed to be based on trust and friendship instead of capacity and economic efficiency.
The world was not “flat” and humanity had to bear the cost and damage because of this “out of rhythm”. The world “flatter” in the past few decades is thanks to the progress of humanity seeing each other’s differences, shortcomings, and limitations as complementary pieces.
As a result, goods are abundant and cheap, life is more comfortable, resources are exploited more efficiently, wealth and abundance are also distributed more evenly. If the world becomes less “flat” again, or the trend of “doing only with the righteous” will make many things fragmented again, troubles with people will increase, amenities will decrease, poverty increase…
No one wants to go back to the time when they had to buy multi-system TVs, in their wallets there were many payment cards from many countries, and the phone couldn’t connect to the network because of different standards… Maybe humanity would have such a painful setback! ?
at Blogtuan.info – Source: tuoitre.vn – Read the original article here
