Essay Example on Robots, Lexus, and Olive Trees: The Story Behind the Title

Introduction

The title of the book comes from a visit made by the author, Thomas L. Friedman, to Tokyo in May 1992, where he noticed a Lexus car factory. Almost everything was automated including the little details that make the vehicle complete which was eased by the use of robots. On his journey back from Tokyo, he read the news on the ongoing dispute between the Arabs and Israelites in the Middle East which was headlined as "people were still fighting over who owned the olive tree." The Lexus he saw in Tokyo represented a good portion of the people in the world who were involved in the globalization process while the other portion was in dispute over land and properties. He tried to think about what people look at and for what purpose.

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Summary

With the evolution and advancement of the new information technology and the increasing relevance and importance of financial markets in the production and distribution of wealth and resources, capitalism has become more volatile and dynamic. It is based on the power of markets to come up with solutions affecting the humane society hence downsizing the government both as a policy-making process and through a series of unintended patterns of financial markets that lessen the government's power to identify the course of national events. The new capitalism is foreseen to exist and expand due to its superior capacity to improve living standards through consumerism and it also tends to lessen the government's power hence make authoritarian reigns and regimes democratic. Although some may argue that the new capitalism poses a problem of the preservation of traditional values of the community.

The Author's Reasoning and Argument

Most people and policymakers have discussed the aspects of globalization that are taking over economies of countries, whether large and small, but Friedman discusses it in simple terms. Whereas some parts of this text recognize the positive results of globalization, there are some portions where he warns of the potential effects of globalization on humanity from unpredictable transformation. The action introduces ways in which technology is changing the human condition and activities.

The book is entirely based on describing how globalization is changing people's lives. It acts as a perfect guide to the rapid transformation of the modern and digital era. Being a columnist grants Friedman access to both business and political leaders in most countries. He also presents a wide-range curiosity and an ability to connect to various perspectives based on his experience. Most of the time, Friedman describes an interview he had with a businessman where the personal details of how daily activities are changing due to the information revolution.

Several of Friedman's descriptions of the working of globalization are likely to be passed into the ways of thinking about this as a concept of encompassing every process to a change. One of these is the concept, in which he calls "defining political-economic garment of the era of globalization." In this case, he means that for one to survive in this highly competitive economy, a country has to put more emphasis on the private sector to keep inflation down, to balance its national budget and decrease the size of its public administration/government sector among other factors such as having a stable currency, conducting free trade and an honest market area.

Friedman's idea of the new world may sound sarcastic and optimistic. Using his style of writing, he draws the techniques used in adverts by advertisers whom he prefers more to academics. Most readers may like his ideas because they sound patriotic and optimistic about technology, free marketplaces and democracy. He uses ridicule to attack people and state governments that have not adopted or even tried to embrace globalization and prophesize their demise for failing to take part in it, "getting on board."