Tom Friedman!
Yes, that Thomas Friedman of ‘The World is Flat’ fame. I have seen him in interviews, listen to him on podcasts, maybe seen in live and in person before, occasionally read his columns in the New York Times and his Tweets, and have a bunch of his books, but it’s always fun and interesting to hear him talk. Plus he is from Minnesota! He did seem a bit pessimistic this time around, but given the times (crazy in the White House/pandemic) that’s not too surprising. In the past he has always been so upbeat and excited about the future, technology, and what’s going on globally. ‘Fast, fused, and deep’ were his buzz words. It was a fun zoom talk with Dr Larry Jacobs at the UMN.
Here is the blurb on the zoom event:
A Conversation with Tom Friedman
“Donald Trump promised to “Make America Great Again” and yet disarray and decline abound. Over the past 6 months, the President failed to slow the Coronavirus as our allies have done and the economic decline set a record. Still more profoundly, the President and his political allies have undercut the sources of American prosperity and global influence – our cutting edge education and scientific infrastructure along with our success in cultivating a level of social harmony in a diverse country that has eluded our European allies. President Trump’s Middle East agreement is historic but received little public acclaim because of the chaos and division that he fueled.
Award-winning author and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman joins us to discuss this and other issues.” (https://www.hhh.umn.edu/event/conversation-tom-friedman).