Please briefly list the ten "flatteners" proposed by Friedman.

Answer: No problem, this is a classic topic. The ten "flatteners" mentioned by Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat are essentially the ten powerful forces he believes have "flattened" our world, making global competition incredibly intense and fair.

Let me explain it simply: you can think of them as ten super bulldozers that have leveled the once uneven "hills" between countries, companies, and even individuals.

Friedman's Ten "Flatteners" (Flattening Forces)

Friedman argues that the convergence of these forces created a new global platform for competition and collaboration, giving nearly everyone on the planet the opportunity to participate in globalization.

Flattener 1: The Collapse of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989)

Simply put: The disappearance of political barriers.
How to understand it: The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the end of the Cold War, ending the world's division into two opposing blocs. It's like walls suddenly falling down in a divided village, allowing villagers from both sides to freely communicate, do business, and share ideas. This started people thinking on a "global" scale, rather than in terms of "us vs. them."

Flattener 2: The IPO of Netscape (August 9, 1995)

Simply put: The popularization of the Internet.
How to understand it: Netscape was the first commercial web browser, making it easy for ordinary people to surf the web. It was like giving everyone their own "family car" for the information superhighway. From then on, the internet was no longer just for scientists; it connected the world and laid the foundation for e-commerce and online collaboration.

Flattener 3: Workflow Software

Simply put: Computers learning to "talk" to each other.
How to understand it: This refers to software that allows computer systems from different companies to "communicate" and collaborate. For example, when you place an order online, that instruction can automatically flow from the sales system to the warehouse system and then to the logistics system – seamlessly. It's like a digital assembly line, enabling people in different locations to collaborate efficiently on complex tasks.

Flattener 4: Open-Sourcing (Uploading)

Simply put: The rise of collective intelligence.
How to understand it: Linux operating systems and Wikipedia are prime examples. This breaks the "you produce, I consume" model, turning it into "we create together." Programmers worldwide can collaboratively develop free software; countless internet users can jointly write an encyclopedia. It's like a massive community project where everyone contributes a brick, collectively building a grand structure.

Flattener 5: Outsourcing

Simply put: "My work, let you do it."
How to understand it: A U.S. company might hand its customer service call center operations to a company in India because it's cheaper and more efficient. This means contracting out a specific "business process" to another party.

Flattener 6: Offshoring

Simply put: "Moving my factory to your place."
How to understand it: This is different from outsourcing. Offshoring involves relocating entire factories or production lines from the home country to a lower-cost country. For instance, an auto brand might shut down its domestic factory and build a new one in China or Mexico to produce cars. The factory is still owned by them, just moved elsewhere.

Flattener 7: Supply Chaining

Simply put: The art of "making goods fly."
How to understand it: Walmart is the king of supply chains. It knows exactly when an item is running low on a specific shelf. Then, systems automatically notify the warehouse to restock, which in turn notifies the factory to produce. The whole process works like a precise machine, drastically reducing inventory costs and boosting efficiency. This enables large-scale global production and sales.

Flattener 8: Insourcing

Simply put: Deep collaboration where "you are within me, I am within you."
How to understand it: This is slightly more complex. For example, UPS doesn't just deliver packages for Toshiba; it might even station its own employees within Toshiba's warehouses to manage all its laptop repairs. UPS embeds its logistics expertise deep within Toshiba's internal processes. This is a deeper level of partnership than simple outsourcing.

Flattener 9: In-forming

Simply put: "Personal information empowerment" brought by search engines.
How to understand it: This refers to search engines like Google and Baidu. In the past, accessing information was hard—you had to go to a library. Now, with a few keystrokes, you can find almost anything you want. This gives individuals unprecedented power to learn, research, and even compete with experts.

Flattener 10: The Steroids

Simply put: The "catalysts" that speed up the previous nine forces.
How to understand it: This isn't a single force, but a category encompassing a range of new technologies like wireless networks, smartphones, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol, like WeChat Voice), etc. They act like "steroids" (performance enhancers) injected into the first nine flatteners, accelerating their speed and power exponentially. You can now have a video conference via smartphone anywhere (workflow), update Wikipedia (open-source), or search for information (in-forming) with unprecedented ease.

In summary, the interplay of these ten forces has flattened the world, bringing the competitive playing field ever closer.