Is globalization good or bad for the world?

After having spent a semester in this global studies course, I find myself even more at a lost on whether or not globalization is good or bad for the world. In many areas, globalization has been a major benefit. Eastern nations have boomed economically, it has improved health, and all in all it's a great way for people across the globe to learn from one another. However, at the same time, is globalization a way of cloning? Are we not stripping away individuality by becoming all the same? Native groups are losing their heritage, languages are dying, and languages are being form.

To me, the question is not whether or not globalization is bad or good. To me, the statement really is that globalization is inevitable and has always and will always happen. Cultures have died, cultures have changed, and cultures have grown throughout human history. Nations, clans, groups, whatever you want to call it have been affecting each other for the good and for the bad since the time humans set foot on the earth. I am pretty much inline with Steger's argument, that globalization is inevitable and that it's "very survival will depend on humanity's ability to tackle the three major global issues" (134). I can see how the way globalization works today can be very harmful in comparison with how human culture has changed in the past. Before the acceleration of global communication, global communication still existed and people still learned and changed from other cultures, but it was at a slower rate.

My question is whether or not globalization is natural, or what can we call natural. Since I was in grade school and began reading those lovely history text books, it looks to me like human beings love to have power, control, and dominant “lesser, weaker” groups. Today’s form of globalization may just be in hyper-speed-mode due to industrialization and technology; however humans seem to have always either changed by learning from each other or by one dominant group forcing a weaker group to change.

So, Globalization: Good or Bad? If being forced to choose I would have to say good. Not because I want diversification to be lost, or that I think diversification is a bad thing. In fact, I believe the opposite. I hate that indigenous groups are losing their rights throughout the globe, losing their culture, and their language. I dislike how certain countries get taken advantage of and are plummeting through hard times. However, in the extreme case of non-globalization; if every nation built the Great Wall of China on their border lines and lost contact, humans would lose advancement of knowledge. We would not be able to learn from each other and certain nations would “advance” in drastically different directions from one another.  However, that is only one guess on what would happen if we all dropped communication. Maybe by closing ourselves off we may actually save the human race, or at least by it more time on the planet. It’s a hard debate, and one that will probably continue forever.