PoliBlog

Friedman

Friedmans' column today, Is Google God? is worth a read. It combines two of the topics he knows best: international relations and globalization.

The money paragraphs:

In other words, once Wi-Fi is in place, with one little Internet connection I can download anything from anywhere and I can spread anything from anywhere. That is good news for both scientists and terrorists, pro-Americans and anti-Americans.

And that brings me to the point of this column: While we may be emotionally distancing ourselves from the world, the world is getting more integrated. That means that what people think of us, as Americans, will matter more, not less. Because people outside America will be able to build alliances more efficiently in the world we are entering and they will be able to reach out and touch us--whether with computer viruses or anthrax recipes downloaded from the Internet-- more than ever.