Thomas Friedman speaks at Save Mart Center

With the continuation of Moore’s Law, the concerns of climate change and the ever-changing global economy, many find it difficult to understand the complex issues generated by these matters.

However, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and renowned author, Thomas L. Friedman, tackles these three issues in his latest book, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations.

Thomas L. Friedman spoke at the Save Mart Center during his free lecture promoting his new book, Thank You for Being Late, April 19. In his book, Friedman explains the rapid acceleration of the economy, the environment and Moore’s Law. 

“Tonight I will be talking about my new book, Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations,” Friedman said. “It is about current affairs and the big forces shaping the world today. I argue that there are three big things happening at the same time. I call them the market, mother nature and Moore’s Law.”

At the media press release before the lecture, Thomas Friedman greeted a small group of videographers, photographers and journalists. Friedman answered questions and also asked questions concerning the community of Fresno and it’s agricultural activity.

“The market is digital globalization, not your grandfather’s globalization which happened with containers on ships and on airplanes,” Friedman said. “If you put digital globalization on a graph, it looks like a hockey stick. Mother Nature is climate change, biodiversity loss and population growth. Moore’s Law, coined in 1965 by Gordon Moore said that the speed and power of microchips will double every 24 months.”

According to Friedman, the market, mother nature and Moore’s law all drive each other forward and also drive solutions to the problems they create. With the world changing and turning over at a quicker pace, he believes education needs to change to a model of lifelong learning.

Friedman has won three Pulitzer Prizes during his career at The New York Times. Friedman has also written seven books, including his latest, Thank You for Being Late. Friedman shares personal stories in Thank You for Being Late to explain his points and convey a message to his readers. One particular story of an encounter led him to start writing the book.

“The book actually was triggered when I paused and engaged with someone I wouldn’t normally engage with,” Friedman said. “I live in Bethesda, Maryland outside of Washington and I take the subway to the Washington office of the New York Times about once a week. For me it involves me driving from my home to the Bethesda Hyatt Hotel and I park in the public parking garage beneath the Hyatt and I take the redline into D.C.

“I did that and I go to my office,” Friedman continued. “I take the redline back. Get in my car and drive to the cashier’s booth. I give the cashier my ticket. He looks at it and looks at me and says, “I know who you are and I read your column. I don’t always agree with you.” I said, “That’s good because you always have to check.”

A week later, Friedman took his weekly trip to his D.C. office and while traveling home, he encountered the same cashier. The cashier asked Friedman to read his blog. Friedman read the cashier’s blog and discovered that he was an Ethiopian political exile.  

“I decided this was a sign from God,” Friedman said. “I should pause and engage this guy, but I didn’t have his email, so the only way I could do it was park in the parking garage. I did that for four or five days. We finally overlapped and I stopped under the gate so it couldn’t come down. I got out of the car and asked Ayele for his email. I began email exchange with him, and proposed a deal.”

Friedman offered to teach Ayele how to write a column in exchange for Ayele’s life story. Ayele was a democracy advocate who was exiled from of his home country and began a pro-democratic blog about Ethiopian politics.

Three years ago, while in Washington D.C., Friedman came up with the name of his book while waiting for an energy entrepreneur who was running late. The energy entrepreneur apologized for his tardiness, and Friedman responded, “Thank you for being late.” While waiting for the entrepreneur, Friedman was able to connect ideas he had struggled with and observe the world around him.  

“People started to get into it. They started to say you’re welcome because they understood I was actually giving them permission to pause and reflect. My favorite quote in the front of the book is from my teacher and friend Dov Seidman, “When you press the pause button on a machine, it stops. But when you press the pause button on a human being they start.”

After the press release and an intermission, the doors opened to the public, and the auditorium began filling with people for the free lecture. After an introduction, Friedman began his lecture promoting the ideas in his latest book. After the talk, members of the audience were encouraged to ask questions they had for Thomas Friedman. After the question and answer time, Friedman signed books.

For more information on Thomas Friedman’s latest book, visit his website. Thank you to Howard K. Watkins for providing photos. For more community photos, visit his gallery at Watkins Photographic Archive Project website.

For more articles on the Feather, read Jostens recognizes The Shield’s achievements

This writer can reached via email: Samuel Cross and via Twitter: Samuel Cross.