In Carr's somewhat alarmingly named chapter "The Church of Google" he characterizes the internet behemoth both positively and negatively. First he praises its importance to the internet as our primary means of navigating the billions of webpages. However, he also blames Google as purveyors of distraction, who profit off of your every click away from a concentration.
1)Do you agree with Carr about Google's importance to the internet? There were other search engines before it, and others since (like Bing). Is Google as important now as it was in the early 00s before the internet truly became a mass media?
2)What do you think of Google's goal to "systematize everything" and synthesize as much data as possible and make it widely available? Can we trust Google? Do you think it's safe for one company to control so much data (books, internet searches, video), especially if it calls itself a "moral force"?
3)Carr describes how Google operates some of its "complements" at a loss, like Youtube which lost between $200 and $500 million dollars last year, in order to collect data from its users. Despite these losses, Google is still an extremely profitable company. What do you think could cause it to stop expanding or to stop offering complementary services? What could stop Google at this point?
4)How does Carr's description of Artificial Intelligence fit into his book? We can see how it links to Google, which is interested in AI, but what point does Carr want to make by describing the power of AI and its differences from actual human thought?
1) Google is, at least for me personally, the most important aspect to the internet. I have been using it with success since the second grade, and am likely to continue using it. I've tried other services like Bing, but Google remains my go-to source when it comes to navigating the ridiculous depths of the internet.
ReplyDelete2) I did find myself mildly disturbed by how Carr presented Google as an information resource monopoly. I tend to prefer low power structures in general, where power is diffused throughout. One company controlling and monitoring the flow of potentially all information is a very scary idea.
3)Competition from other firms, and government regulations, could slow down Google. While other firms have been so far unsuccessful, all it would take is one brilliant mind and the invention of a newer, even more impressive technology to unsettle Google. Companies such as Facebook show how that is possible.
Undoubtedly, Google carries great importance and responsibility when it comes to the internet. Despite the competition with other search engines, Google continues to succeed due to its vast brand recognition and the simplicity to navigate through searches. For this reason, I think that Google is just as important (if not more) as it was a decade ago. Fundamentally, I think Google’s goal to synthesize data and promote availability is a great thing; however, although Google has generated a fair amount of credibility, it is a bit unsettling to relinquish all control of such a large mass of data to one company. At this point, it would be rather difficult to compete with Google. In my opinion, unless a company such as Facebook, with a potentially equally strong name recognition can create some revolutionary version of a search engine, Google will continue to be a strong, monopolizing company.
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