Topic of the day: We are all interconnected

The world is going through a lot of changes recently and this is a remarkable happening that maybe not everybody is aware of. Take a look around yourself and see where the things come from, for example. You are certainly surrounded by products manufactured in China, but developed in Europe or in the US. And this is not everything; this is actually just the tip of the iceberg called globalization, in which the nations are taking their part in the global manufacturing and trading. In fact, it has always been like this, even before the middle ages, with the kingdoms of those times conquering new markets and trading routes in order to expand their nations.

Basically all the nations nowadays contribute to this global market, in a way of producing raw material, making industrialized products, buying or selling goods, developing technology or importing new trends in this fast expanding and volatile world. What one market or country does regarding their international policy affects in different levels this global interaction.

Another good example of this interconnectivity is the expansion of the tourism and study/work travels among nations. Living abroad for the last 18 months showed me that people on the other side of the world are not that far from where I come from… more precisely, a trip from Australia, where I lived last year, to Brazil can take “only” 30 hours. That’s impressive, considering that few centuries ago, Captain Cook left the UK and landed months later in that “unknown” land.

Every individual interaction with a foreigner is another dot of this giant network that is being connected, and the rate of growth is skyrocketing. People are learning new languages in a much larger extent than in the past, in a way that cultures are expanding and incorporating new aspects from one another. People are also moving to live in different places, much more than it used to be. There are many factors behind it, but for sure the development of fast and reliable transport, the population growth, and the expansion of the internet are main boosters for this trend.

The internet, in my opinion, is turning what was really hard (to not say impossible) in the past, into something that any individual can do. Let me take my example of self publishing a book. I had never thought seriously about writing a book in the past and much less about publishing it, and here I am with a book published in different markets around the world, talking about one of my passions: mountain biking. If you want to check it, this is the link: 101 MTB tips and techniques.

The internet also changed the way people seek entertainment. In reality, people don’t need to be passive consumers of big communication corporations just watching, reading or listening to what they say. People nowadays are also active actors playing different roles in self publishing and consuming content in many ways, such as writing (like my case), but also in videos, music, studies, and much more. Knowledge has never been as widespread as it is now, but in this way I just advice to double check the source before believing in what you see. There are a lot of things published out there which doesn’t necessarily mean that it has good quality.

The way that we interact with the real world is also changing fast due to the incorporation of advanced technology in products that used to be only passive objects. Let’s take an example of a video call. Now it is really easy to have a video chat with your relative or friend that lives in another part of the world. You basically need to have internet connection and a device, and like in a pass of magic you touch the screen and there you have another person on the screen of your mobile phone.

That is amazing. You can learn and share much more and much faster than it used to be.

Would you like to know about a certain musical instrument? Or maybe about an interesting sport that you heard one of these days…You can even find new technologies, business ideas or techniques to improve your professional life…Or perhaps you just want to share your thoughts and good ideas…It’s up to you to start these things.

The future is going to be even more connected. Are you ready for that?