The second advancement in globalization came when major companies found outsourcing production decreased labor costs and allowed access into additional markets, which Friedman says occurred between 1800 and 2000. The final stage in globalization, he argues, has appeared within the last decade with the advent of the World Wide Web; an online world in which individuals across the globe will find newfound potential. .
With this possibility for immediate interaction between individuals across the world, the question of how we treat one another from different cultural backgrounds has become more pressing than ever before. Kwame Appiah's philosophical analysis of globalization in Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers wrestles with this very issue. Appiah argues that our differences-religious, racial, cultural, monetary-which have historically caused every war and national dispute will eventually dissolve as we learn to understand that we all share innate values by virtue of our shared humanity. In her introduction to her book, Appiah mentions that these international disputes have arisen typically when governments assume the responsibility to act for their citizens, "And the possibilities of good and of ill are multiplied beyond all measure when it comes to policies carried out by governments in our name" (Appiah, xii-xiii). Just as Friedman underlines the diminishing of racial and ethnic divisions through the global integration of technology, Appiah believes that individuals will become cosmopolitans and discover our shared values that transcend our human differences: ultimately leading to a global community.
David Harvey, who focuses on the role of government in freeing individuals, would disagree with both Friedman and Appiah, likely arguing that their ideological views on globalization ignore the function of government, whose role is utterly necessary in maximizing individual potential and caring for the less independently competent.