Is There Any Way to Shove Google Back in the Tube?
For some reason, this morning I wound up reading this article about Google, published six years ago in the London Review of Books. John Lanchester concludes--and remember, this was in 2006:
Putting all this together, we reach the conclusion that, on the one hand, Google is cool. On the other hand, Google has the potential to destroy the publishing industry, the newspaper business, high street retailing and our privacy.
And, why, goodness--that's just what it did! If I'd really grasped this, I probably would have spent the past six years differently.
The best historical analogy for where Google is today probably comes from the time when the railroads were being built. Everyone knew that trains and railways would change the world, but no one predicted the invention of suburbs. Google, and the increased flow of information on which it rides and from which it benefits, is the railway. I don’t think we’ve yet seen the first suburbs.
I think we're beginning to see the suburbs--and they look horrible to me.
While many conservatives are wondering whether the sexual revolution was overall bad for women, I'm much more concerned that Google--and the Internet, generally--have destroyed the publishing industry, the newspaper business, high street retailing and our privacy, with consequences that have certainly been more deleterious to my happiness than the sexual revolution.
I have an ominous feeling about what the death of publishing and newspapers really means, a feeling that may not entirely be connected to the catastrophe it represents for me, personally, although it's hard to say.
As for the death of privacy, I'm dead certain we'll all live to regret that.
What do you think--was the Internet a big mistake?
***
Update: Thanks, E.J.! We love you!
- Comment (86)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (5)
Comments:
Nov '11
Re: Is There Any Way to Shove Google Back in the Tube?
Crow's Nest
I think we can be cautiously optimistic about the technology while recognizing it has some downsides--but we can only better the enterprise and mitigate them by first recognizing them. · 4 hours ag
o
No, technology good! Laptop for every student! Cursive writing bad! Second Life! Twitter! Yay!
Sep '10
Re: Is There Any Way to Shove Google Back in the Tube?
I remember, with good humor now, how I fumed a few years ago, when you were assigned to local matters (moderating an online forum about your city's arts and culture, as I recall). Minneapolis, schminneapolis! I wanted your funny opinion columns on national issues! Do you think your opinions about the importance of "skewing local" helped persuade the owners and managers to change the focus of the newspaper?
Oct '10
Re: Is There Any Way to Shove Google Back in the Tube?
Nicely crisp, articulate, and intuitive. Thanks, Crow!
Oct '10
Re: Is There Any Way to Shove Google Back in the Tube?
Here's the hitch: it's not so much "technology good" as "technology inevitable." What doesn't help, in my opinion, under the circumstances is a kind of abject horrified response to technology. Communication and information technology does indeed make privacy issues, e.g., much more immediate than had been the case. Well, that technology isn't going away, nor would it be desirable for it to, so how about mastering the technology necessary to reclaim privacy? Entire categories of businesses are being disrupted by technology and companies around it. How about helping writers and others adversely impacted shift to the new publishing and distribution technology?
Just to be clear, I'm very sympathetic to nostalgia. I just went home to Indiana a bit over a month ago for the first time in too many years, and it's gut-wrenching to see some of the changes to my beloved home. But I can't afford—we can't afford—a kind of emotionally-driven stasis to arrest progress based solely, or in my opinion even primarily, on fear.
Nov '10
Re: Is There Any Way to Shove Google Back in the Tube?
BlueAnt
If anyone's bothering to watch me, they must think Ricochet is the raciest, most scandalous site out there!
It's not? What am I paying for then? I think I was tricked!
Apr '12
Re: Is There Any Way to Shove Google Back in the Tube?
I think a careful reading of Bastiat's "That which is seen, and that which is not seen" would be instructive; especially if one focuses on the section detailing the efficiency of machines.
We wouldn't have this conversation but for the internet.
Edited on April 7, 2012 at 7:48pm