Getting Googled

Google is a pervasive and daily element in my life. Almost to the extent that I fear Google on some level and wish it ill. But at the same time Google is something that I have to admit is a good idea. In Ken Auletta’s Googled we’re told a story about a startup company of engineers who want o make our lives more efficient through searches a simple life without complexity and gives what we ask for when we want it.

And that is the Google search engine. Google works so well for our world because it’s the epitome of what the internet is supposed to be about. Quick, efficient, and sympathetic to the individual needs of the user, and that’s how engineers think and the digital age is an age of a world built in the mind’s eye of engineering innovators.

Google has helped make small businesses great (AdWords), has brought constant entertainment to our lives (YouTube), and the world’s words to our finger tips (Google Books). But is Google everything the world needs? Has its actions started to rub its philosophy “Don’t be Evil” the wrong way?

 In the information age, Google holds a lot of power, power that from an engineer’s standpoint may seem efficient but from a consumer’s standpoint can often look invasive and short sited. The Sci-Fi world of Wall-E where everything is done for us while we just sit there is quickly being created by Google with its bevy of Apps, phone ventures, and information access. But Google isn’t alone.

While this book reads from the standpoint of showing Google from a variety of aspects, the company in my eyes is just like any other. Microsoft, Apple…Google. Even though Apple and Microsoft want to grab you money, they know the only way to do this is by making your life easier…more efficient. That’s why Google and Apple worked so well for the longest time. They both knew that in the digital age if you simplified the product (but gave a bevy of individualizing features like colors and apps) people will buy your product to make their lives easier.

Google should change its philosophy to “Be Transparent” because all large companies are evil, but more need to be transparent about their evilness. Like Mad Scientist.