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Why Google Should Not Rule the World
Townhall.com ^ | December 3, 2017 | Bruce Bialosky

Posted on 12/02/2017 9:45:56 PM PST by Kaslin

The internet has provided tools to improve the world that are, in a way, indescribable. For example, understanding the multitude of medical challenges people face becomes easier with the internet. Improving your language skills and understanding a foreign language is infinitely simpler. But there are severe challenges that come with the ease of the internet. Google and others cannot go unchallenged.

This all began as something to explore for me when within a month I had a chance to spend an extended period of time with two different biochemists on two different continents. Both of these men are utterly brilliant individuals and it was fascinating to have the chance to have prolonged dialogues with both.

The first is a retired college professor who is not really retired. He is in the middle of writing four textbooks at what most people would consider an advanced age.

He expressed complete faith in science and mankind’s ability to develop scientific solutions to every task at hand. He longingly saw the day when driverless cars were roaming the streets asserting complete confidence in them being a solution to our transportation problems. In his mind, we can develop an algorithm for every problem we face.

Next, I was a guest of a biochemist in Western Australia. With our wives, we shared two dinners at his family winery. Engaging with such brilliant people presents some fascinating conversations. When I told him of having my stent put in, he proposed that very soon algorithms would be developed to diagnose any medical condition one might have. I ran through how my situation was discovered and resolved. We began to clash in our paths here – he believes a computer will solve my medical needs while I put my faith in Reed Wilson (my internist and cardiologist) who, with his vast experience, figured out very quickly what was wrong with me.

I turned to my host in Australia and said to him “You are Gerry.” That is the name of the man about whom I just wrote -- in the U.S. They both had complete and total faith that an algorithm could be developed to solve every challenge mankind faces, even though they were half a world apart.

What is the reality for the rest of us? I love our advancements in computers and other devices. Just writing my weekly column is made immensely less challenging as I can scour worldwide information to research a topic at three in the morning from anywhere. But there are downsides.

Those downsides were displayed in a recent communication I had with a very public figure who will remain anonymous. He was telling me how the ever-invasive internet with some of its applications had dramatically altered his life.

He started by saying “I am starting construction on my house. I am having issues with (uninvited) people showing up at my house. I need to protect my youngest son. It’s for safety and for value of the house. Things aren’t getting better and I have weapons and my next dog is gonna be a pit bull.”

He goes on: “Thanks to the miracle of Google Earth we have NO privacy!! None and you can’t get off. I wrote Google a nasty note about publishing my info as it is also published on websites when I am in and out of town. They scammed a photo of my house .. which is old anyway...”

“All I can say is Orwell had no idea how bad it would be.”

“Thanks to Waze we have traffic like never before. When I bought this house it was so quiet, no stop signs, no people that didn't live up here... it was so cool and mellow... then.... we have what we have now -- mayhem.”

“Have a nice day my friend and thanks for noticing the tune. It won’t sell. Nothing does. People steal music. Why buy it? Why do you think I am on the road 200 days a year?”

“Google and Facebook.... or as I like to call it Hatebook. The things people say to each other now.... fact-less b.s. that just is never ending... I barely look anymore. I don’t get into it on threads on message boards, I don’t have the time or desire.”

“The iPhones all of it... we are losing our humanity. The ability to be social. To be REAL! To have a conversation not an argument. Not everything is a straight up yes or no answer. What ever happened to working together for the greater good?”

“Why do you have to choose a side? I don’t. I won’t. I just want what everyone wants. Peace and prosperity and my family safe and healthy. Hope for a better future for all. Does one need to choose a side for that?”

“Hey, I love my tech and hate it at the same time. It stole my business and took 80% of my money away.”

“Everything is fake now. Where's Walter Cronkite with the news, not an agenda or a wink or an 'alternative truth'.”

“Music, food, water, air, healthy, hope, no one is nice anymore... it’s rare. No social skills staring into a cell phone all day long.”

That is one man’s opinion about the benefit that we have derived from all those algorithms. He has to rebuild portions of his home because of its location being disclosed and strangers coming to his front door because of his celebrity. A quiet neighborhood has now become a major thruway. His income has been destroyed by people stealing it over the internet thus necessitating him to be away from his family for extended periods to replace it.

In addition, he is convinced we have lost our humanity as people bury their faces while staring at their phones looking at strident comments from people they barely know.

We can all agree we love our tech, but there is a lot to dislike. We certainly don’t want the self-appointed gods of tech ruling our lives, restricting our speech or what we can read. It may be time to rein them in.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: beseeingyou; bigbother; billiondollarmarxist; globalism; google; googlebias; googleshnoogle; internet; monopoly; privacyrights; youtubebias

1 posted on 12/02/2017 9:45:56 PM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

“Where’s Walter Cronkite with the news, not an agenda or a wink or an ‘alternative truth’.”
Was he really that honest and unbiased?


2 posted on 12/02/2017 9:51:02 PM PST by MNDude (God is not a Republican, but Satan is certainly a Democratt)
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To: Kaslin

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world


3 posted on 12/02/2017 10:13:17 PM PST by MrEdd (Caveat Emptor)
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To: MNDude
Was he really that honest and unbiased?

Short answer, no.

Longer answer, BAHAHAHAHAHA... no.

4 posted on 12/02/2017 10:22:45 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Not a Romantic, not a hero worshiper and stop trying to tug my heartstrings. It tickles! (pink bow))
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To: MNDude

No. And as the old fart aged, he stopped trying to cover up his bias


5 posted on 12/02/2017 10:25:17 PM PST by A_Former_Democrat ("I am SpartaLee" Hey, NFL, why didn't you any of you bold guys hire Kaepernick? #GoodbyeGoodell)
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To: MrEdd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N6z81BUvIA
Tears for fears. Nice music, great vocals, lousy philosophy.


6 posted on 12/02/2017 10:37:44 PM PST by Fungi (Fungi rule the world, no one knows it yet.)
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To: Kaslin
Freedom of Choice

A victim of collision on the open sea
Nobody ever said, life was free
Sink, swim, go down with the ship
But use your freedom of choice

I'll say it again, in the land of the free
Use your freedom of choice
Freedom of choice

In ancient Rome
There was a poem
About a dog
Who found two bones
He peeked at one
He licked the other
He went in circles
Then he dropped dead

Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom of choice


Then if you got it, you don't want it
Seems to be a rule of thumb
Don't be tricked by what you see
You got two ways to go

Freedom of choice
Is what you got
Freedom from choice
Is what you want

7 posted on 12/03/2017 2:04:13 AM PST by Dallas59 (Only a fool stumbles on things behind him.)
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To: Kaslin

Why net neutrality needs to end. It’s pure communism now. When people have to pay to steal, they won’t.


8 posted on 12/03/2017 2:16:08 AM PST by Dallas59 (Only a fool stumbles on things behind him.)
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To: MNDude

I almost made it to the end - but then they mentioned Walter Conkrite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlbEzzubDsc

Walter introduces the above newscast from 1965 on the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam. During the introduction it shows young troops, with Uncle Walter saying “...proud, sure of themselves, but still to be tested in battle.”

Then, with the rows of caskets being unloaded “Last week.....some of them....came home.....”

Later-on Morly Safer says something like “While this battle was claimed a victory, it remains to be seen how long America will stand for the huge losses of their sons fighting in this remote jungle.:

This was in 19-friggin’-65 near the beginning of the war!


9 posted on 12/03/2017 2:34:20 AM PST by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts FDR's New Deal = obama)
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To: 21twelve

The leftist manipulated news has been around for a long time.


10 posted on 12/03/2017 2:52:25 AM PST by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: Kaslin

Many years ago I had lunch with a futurist from MIT. He predicted that we would no longer have governments but instead be affiliated with large multinationals.

It is becoming true. Facebookers, Apples, Amazons, Googles,

Of course back then we thought it would be IBMers, who then ruled the world.


11 posted on 12/03/2017 2:57:41 AM PST by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: Kaslin

Guess what, with blockchain technology, you cannot erase or change what is posted. Google is now a dinosaur which has betrayed the internet, trying to centralize it


12 posted on 12/03/2017 3:21:08 AM PST by JudgemAll (Democrats Fed. job-security Whorocracy & hate:hypocrites must be gay like us or be tested/crucifiedc)
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To: Kaslin

No google at all is good .


13 posted on 12/03/2017 3:58:41 AM PST by Lionheartusa1 ()-: There is nothing DEMOCRATIC about the democrat party ,, stop using that term :-()
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To: Lionheartusa1

I despise Google and refuse to use it.


14 posted on 12/03/2017 5:10:48 AM PST by Kaslin (Quid est Veritas?: What Is Truth?)
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To: MNDude

Walter Cronkite was an angry globalist who mocked that he’d gladly sit at the right hand of Satan to see one world governance with Americans giving up independence and rights to a higher State.


15 posted on 12/03/2017 5:23:46 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Did Barack Obama denounce Communism and dictatorships when he visited Cuba as a puppet of the State?)
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To: Chickensoup

The nations of the world in the original Rollerball were replaced with waring industries that settled their battles in bloodsport.


16 posted on 12/03/2017 5:26:05 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Did Barack Obama denounce Communism and dictatorships when he visited Cuba as a puppet of the State?)
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To: Kaslin

Interesting post. “It may be time to rein them in.” If this strikes a chord with you, I recommend Franklin Foer’s 2017 book titled World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech. Foer has plenty to take issue with Google, but Facebook and Amazon are equally of concern. Whatever your political proclivities, the book is fascinating and disturbing.


17 posted on 12/03/2017 6:04:25 AM PST by Wheelman81
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To: MNDude
Was he really that honest and unbiased?

No
Hell No
No F%%king Way

18 posted on 12/03/2017 9:39:19 AM PST by Hardastarboard (Three most annoying words on the internet - "Watch the Video")
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To: Kaslin
Why Google Should Not Rule the World

CALLER: Is this Gordon's Pizza?

GOOGLE: No sir, it's Google Pizza.

CALLER: I must have dialed a wrong number. Sorry.

GOOGLR: No sir, Google bought Gordon’s Pizza last month.

CALLER: OK. I would like to order a pizza..

GOOGLE: Do you want your usual, sir?

CALLER: My usual? You know me?

GOOGLE:
According to our caller ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called you ordered
an extra-large pizza with three cheeses, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms
and meatballs on a thick crust.

CALLER: OK! That’s what I want …

GOOGLE:
May I suggest that this time you order a pizza with ricotta, arugula,
sun-dried tomatoes and olives on a whole wheat gluten-free thin crust?

CALLER: What? I detest vegetables.

GOOGLE: Your cholesterol is not good, sir..

CALLER: How the hell do you know?

GOOGLE:
Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records.
We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.

CALLER:
Okay, but I do not want your rotten vegetable pizza! I already take
medication for my cholesterol.

GOOGLE:
Excuse me sir, but you have not taken your medication regularly.
According to our database, you only purchased a box of 30 cholesterol
tablets once, at Drug RX Network, 4 months ago.

CALLER: I bought more from another drugstore.

GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your credit card statement.

CALLER: I paid in cash.

GOOGLE: But you did not withdraw enough cash according to your bank statement.

CALLER: I have other sources of cash..

GOOGLE:
That doesn’t show on your last tax return unless you bought them using an
undeclared income source, which is against the law.

CALLER: WHAT THE HELL?

GOOGLE: I'm sorry, sir, we use such information only with the sole intention of helping you.

CALLER:
Enough already! I'm sick to death of Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and
all the others. I'm going to an island without internet, cable TV,
where there is no cell phone service and no one to watch me or spy on me.

GOOGLE: I understand sir, but you need to renew your passport first. It expired 6 weeks ago…

19 posted on 12/03/2017 8:11:12 PM PST by RedMonqey (“Better to die on your feet than living on your knees”)
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