Every time I land in a country that I've never been to before, I'm always amazed how many things we have gotten to work seamlessly across the globe even with all of our cultural, political, and language differences. We have so many foundational infrastructure differences that we have be able to overcome. Some countries are on the metric system while others are in the imperial one. Some drive on the right while others on the left. We use different electrical outlets. We speak different languages. We have different laws, different currencies. Despite all of this, in most countries I visit, I feel confident that once I get off the plane I can get around easily.
People debate when globalization started but in the last couple of decades we have made tremendous progress as a society in making the world feel smaller. My cellphone plan works in over 100 countries. I can pull out my debit card and take out money in most local currencies. I can open up the Uber app and call a cab in many countries without having any cash. Google maps will tell me where many places are located and how to get there. This is all things we take for granted but were unimaginable not that long ago.
There is still a lot of room for improvement for sure and there are many more ways we can improve interoperability between our human defined borders. Each new city I visit has it's own transportation card that I have to figure out how to acquire and load with money. Uber is banned in many countries or they have been forced to withdraw because of intense competition from local competitors. I'm currently in South Korea where Google maps won't give me driving or walking directions because the Korean government won't supply them with local geo data if Google will be storing it in foreign servers. I just came from Japan where most local places don't take cash and there are many different train companies that require different passes unless you get their transportation card. And those are two of the most advanced countries in the world.
It is exciting to think about how people will continue to bridge cultures and people from around the world and it is something that gets me excited about working on technology.
