Monday, November 9, 2009

Late Entry No. 1 "The Google Empire"

Google sites is yet another extension of the services the web server Google offers. It boasts an extensive translator (Bulgarian, Polish, Serbia, Farsi are among the languages convertible to and from English), Google Docs is at this point unrivaled in utility, and Google has recently grown the stones to design a web-browser.

For some, Google seems like a monstrous octopus waiting to consume the web. However, this is far from the case. If Google is expanding so rapidly, it is a sign it is so thoroughly threatened. Competition in the market place both of dollars and ideas is the cause for Google's growth. If it didn't grow, it would turn into cyber-dust.

"Don't be evil" is the "informal" slogan of Google. And I think this is greatly overlooked by the sadist soothsayers predicting a grim-googled future. A future where Google is the sole web tool for everything, and Google itself has power over what users see and what users don't see...

I do not think this is an accurate prediction of the future.

Through Google I've done many things. I've learned how to say "I love you" several different languages. I've learned about the likes of Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker with Google's help. I would never have known their names otherwise.

Looking at Google's web-building tool, I doubt that Google has what it takes to dominate the world of information. Namely, it doesn't have the desire to. Google is not this entity which pervades all facets of the internet, it is a tool and a group people. It is both the people who invent the tools and the people who use the tools. With this in mind, those colorful letters inviting all worldly and otherworldly inquiries is less a smug simper and more a friendly smile.

What becomes of google remains to be seen. There are already creatures like Wolfram on the prowl which might make Google look like a search steam-engine.

Yet the goal is not to dominate knowledge. It is to disseminate, create and share knowledge all the faster.

The goal then is not to fear the future, but to embrace it. We will be all the better for it.

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