OKLAHOMA CITY — America needs to encourage innovation at all levels, from small businesses to multinational corporations, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said Monday.
Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, was awarded the Gaylord Prize from the OU College of Journalism at the Sheraton Hotel in Oklahoma City. He received the award for his career in journalism, his international notoriety and the high ethical standards he set, said Pattye Moore, chairwoman of the Gaylord College Board of Visitors.
“We can’t stimulate our way out of this crisis, we can’t bail our way out of this crisis, we can only invent our way out of this crisis,” Friedman said.
In the early ‘90s, as an international economics correspondent for The New York Times covering the intersection of finance and foreign policy, Friedman said he witnessed the beginning of economic globalization.
“I remember writing a lead back then, it was the first time it all hit me ... it was more important what General Motors and General Electric thought than General Powell,” Friedman said.
In his book, “The World is Flat,” Friedman argued that technology is getting faster, cheaper and more diffused. Since its publication in 2004, Friedman said the world has become even flatter, that is, more people have access to more of the same technology.
“More and more things are becoming commodities. They’re being automated, digitized, synthesized and outsourced,” Friedman said. “What that means is the one thing that isn’t, and cannot be a commodity, is more important than ever, and that is imagination.”
There are two kinds of countries: high imagination countries and low imagination countries, Friedman said.
“America is the greatest dream machine in the world, bar none,” he said.
Although many people put forth the argument that China will be the world’s new superpower, Friedman said he disagrees.
“I will not cede the 21st century to a country that censors its Internet and has political prisoners,” Friedman said. “That’s not exactly an imagination enabling society.”
Friedman said in the Middle East, there is a war going on between those who want to be part of the imagination culture and violent extremists that want to take the world back to the 12th century.
“It’s so critical for the future of that faith community that the progressives, those who want to be part of the world, can find a way to blend Islam with modernity,” Friedman said.
He said education should focus on the right side of the brain to cultivate imagination.
Friedman offered advice based on the global marketplace and the increasing “flatness” of the world: Whatever can be done, will be done. So if you have a good idea, you should pursue it before someone else on the other side of the world does. And the most important competition in the world will be between you and your imagination.
“People thought that the way to get rich was by flipping a house, not by earning a degree,” he said. “We need to get back to encouraging innovation at every level.”
Friedman appeared as a guest on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” Dec. 1 to promote the paperback edition of his book, “Hot, Flat and Crowded.”
Friedman said he is a big fan of “The Daily Show” and thinks Stewart is providing a valuable complement to the news.
“Jon Stewart is an amazing talent and even though he is poking fun at people, events and the way stories are covered, he’s actually providing a useful service,” Friedman said. “He keeps the establishment media honest.”
—Friedman spoke to The Daily following the reception. Portions of the interview contributed to the story.
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rocto88 2 years, 4 months ago
Nothing for that lefty. Spare us.