So I'm posting this blog a little late because I'm an idiot. My name is Carlos Molina, and I'm a senior communications major with a focus in media studies. I'm a big fan of the media and the transfer/availability of information, particularly online. I guess this would be the major phenomenon that interests me, is just how much information on any subject is available online.
You guys ever see the Terminator movies? You know how in the first one, the war with the machines is far enough away and fictional enough to be a possibility, but not a real threat? Then in the second one the logistics of it are explained some more and still, realistically, it would be very difficult for the machines to become self aware and rise up against their creators? The third one is where my interest in information kicks in. In the third one, SkyNet is a super secret government project that's a hugely complicated defense system, that ultimately gets a "virus" making it self aware. SkyNet itself was the virus, a weird concept I know, but SkyNet also was the entire network and pretty much had all the available information in the world, from the internet to defense secrets and everything in between. SkyNet just started off as a network that could access information.
What is Google? Isn't it just a database full of the world's information? How many different features does it have? All you have to do is look at the front page and see. Google video, google maps, google news, google images, google mail. Let's not forget the awesome Google Earth that everyone has looked their house up on at least once. And of course the massive Google Books project looking to scan every book available with the aid of libraries and publishers. Combine that with the acquisition of YouTube and it creates quite a vast system.
I realize it's a pretty huge stretch to compare google to skynet, and yes I realize the Terminator movies are science fiction. But just the idea and logistics of how much information is out there, how much everybody knows, and how easy it is for people to find baffles me. And we should all be scared of the day when the machines realize how much they know about us and how badly they could crush us. Dun, dun, dunnnnnn.........
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Hey Carlos,
I agree, perhaps comparing SkyNet to google is a little bit of stretch. But Google is the most comprehensive force online! Google is so effective, because it is the best tool that can tag and locate information available online. What good is knowledge when no one can find it? And for google, let's not forget how it really takes over daily life with google accounts- google home, email, document, calendar, images, etc. Personally I prefer to share documents from my account rather than to attach them, because it's easier to locate. Gmail already uses information to show appropriate ads for each email. It's scary to imagine how much information is being saved on gmail server. But hopefully Google doesn't turn into a self aware virus!
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