First, some very good posts on "Economic Globalization" ... nice work
and many key and essential points to be noted and built into our
"calculus."
Now, lets look at the influence in a deeper way, of what Garreau
observed and was writing about, his more cynical side aside for the
moment. Is it that Garreau saw what the world was becoming? Did he
embrace (wittingly or not) the work of FM2030?
Picture a nation, something approaching 90% of the world's most
pre-eminent innovations were developed in this nation, the nation has
among the highest standards of living on the planet, the nation appears
to be more embracing of externalities than many if not most others, and
then through of series of "sharing events" (technology transfer and
other strategies employed) seems to be eroding its own competitive
advantage, to the advantage of arguably "competitor" nations ... in the
name of profits, of sharing, of global improvement, technology transfer
and expansion, et al.
Obviously, there are "benefactors" and then there are net "losers" by
some measure or measures to such a strategy. In a context (contrive as
it may be) of "getting beyond the nation-state" this seems positive and
noteworthy. But if same is just a fallacy and unachievable, then the
resulting paradigm shift is in a way a sort of "self destruct" mechanism
for a thriving nation, and an enhancement to seemingly impoverished
nations that seek to grow, expand and benefit from such a strategy.
Where does Garreau take us?