My World Was Flat

Sometimes the speed that the Internet is changing our world is best memorialized by seemingly trivial events. Let me tell you what happened to me yesterday.

I'm writing this from Paris where I've been for the past few days on a quick holiday combined with a few business meetings. I was on the Metro and noticed a few people talking on their cell phones. This impressed me, so I pulled out my Samsung Blackjack and noticed that I had three bars! (I have one of those GSM phones which works both in the US and abroad.)

So, I did what any self-respecting techie would do, I logged onto the Internet! And, since it was Sunday, I figured I'd do what I do every Sunday -- I read The New York Times. And, between the George V station and Chatelet, I read a fantastic Times Magazine article about Al Gore. And, then, of course, I checked my e-mail.

As I got off the train I just stopped in my tracks. I realized that the description of the wired world we're now living in, that Tom Friedman described in The World Is Flat,  had just come true. The distance between my New York life and Paris France suddenly disappeared.

Even though I work in the technology business and think of myself as living on the cutting edge, this was a pretty awesome experience.

It reminds me yet again, that we're still witnessing the very beginning of this amazing technological revolution - one that changes the very nature of how communicate with each other (and market to our patrons) in fundamental ways.