Invention vs. Innovation

When it comes to invention vs. innovation, the first thought that comes to mind is that invention is more valuable than the latter. As a society, we could not have the things that we take for granted or want without first having someone come up with the idea and create it. That is just how it works. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and Karl Benz came up with the first modern automobile. Their inventions helped advance civilization greatly (though they are not the only inventors to do this. There are many others that I cannot name on the top of my head) and it is because of these creators that we are able to utilize these inventions.

            Now taking a second look at invention vs. innovation, my line of thinking is different now that I have had time to really think about it. I do not think that invention is any less important than innovation; it is just that innovation does more on a long run than invention does. I believe that invention is just the starting block for innovation to take over. People are always going to come up with new ideas but it is going to be innovation that is going to take those ideas and make new ways to go about that idea. Look at computers from when they were first invented to what they are now, that is all innovation’s doing.

            To what particular area(s) of invention and innovation would I like to make a contribution in my life? That is a hard question. I do not know really how I would go about contributing. (It would be funny though if I have already been doing this without knowing that I am.) I know that there are penny stocks that you can buy on the internet and you can help invest in someone and their product. I do not know if this actually answers the question. I remember in my freshman history class when the teacher was talking about the stock market crash, she kind of got off topic and talked about how an acquaintance of hers asked if she would invest some money in his invention (or something). She did not, but a couple of years later it turned out that his invention became pretty popular. That was where I got the whole penny stocks idea.

Globalization

           I did not know much about the globalization issue before taking this class; it was not something that I had to ever do research for. I know that in my European Issues class last year, the professor talked about it on the last class day before finals week, but it was only for a little bit. Actually it was more like, “There’s a thing called globalization and you don’t need to know it for the final”. When looking over the information provided by The Globalization Website, it kind of opened my eyes that this is a kind of issue that should be made more aware of, especially since the world is more connected than ever before.

On the website there were six main debates listed: Meaning, Interpretation, Evaluation, Explanation, Political, and Cultural. Through these main debates, the reader is able to see both opposing sides. The main debate that caught my eye was Cultural: Sameness vs. Difference. I do not know why this debate caught my eye. I just know that after I finished reading the description for that debate it got me thinking. Since the world is so interconnected, it seems likely that different cultures are going to clash with each other and intermix. This does not seem like a huge deal. Maybe cultural intermixing is what the world needs. If we are more alike than different, then there will be more tolerance. Or it could cause more conflicts. The conflicts that I can see in globalization intermixing cultures is that the more dominate culture is going to absorb or annihilate the recessive ones. This could be a great thing, unite the world under one culture. I do not see it as such though. A country’s culture is what makes it unique.

On the website it gives reasons why globalization will diminish or foster cultural diversity. I was a little concern about a point for the foster cultural diversity side which says, “… diversity has itself become a global value, promoted through international organizations and movements”. Whenever I think about something having a value in the world, I cannot help but imagine that there are corporate business men putting price tags on it.   

Two quotes that I want to also want to discuss are from Jared Diamond and Larry Elder.

"Globalization makes it impossible for modern societies to collapse in isolation, as did Easter Island and the Greenland Norse in the past. Any society in turmoil today, no matter how remote ... can cause trouble for prosperous societies on other continents and is also subject to their influence (whether helpful or destabilizing). For the first time in history, we face the risk of a global decline. But we also are the first to enjoy the opportunity of learning quickly from developments in societies anywhere else in the world today, and from what has unfolded in societies at any time in the past."

Jared Diamond (Scientist, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse:How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed)

      I agree with Mr. Diamond when he says that a country can no longer succeed or fail without effecting other countries, in today's world that is impossible. A country cannot isolate itself from the world anymore like they were able to in years past. I do not know if this relates much to what Mr. Diamond is saying, but revolutions in Northern Africa can be an example of what he is saying in the second sentence. When these revolutions started popping up, they became a priority to countries around the world because it was affecting them economically.

"Outsourcing and globalization of manufacturing allows companies to reduce costs, benefits consumers with lower cost goods and services, causes economic expansion that reduces unemployment, and increases productivity and job creation."

 
Larry Elder (Talk radio host)

       I chose Larry Elder's quote because I outright disagree with it. I do not think that globalization is reducing unemployment, especially not in America. It is more like globalization is creating a bigger pool of competition for us to compete in.  Also, when he says "Outsourcing and globalization of manufacturing" brings me back to A Story of Stuff. The author talked about how companies would take resources from other countries in order to produce cheaper materials, it does not really do much of anything else.