Is Google God?

June 30, 2003 8:07 AM

Is Google God? "While you were sleeping after 9/11, not only has the process of technological integration continued, it has actually intensified — and this will have profound implications." "...Google, combined with Wi-Fi, is a little bit like God. God is wireless, God is everywhere and God sees and knows everything. Throughout history, people connected to God without wires. Now, for many questions in the world, you ask Google, and increasingly, you can do it without wires, too." [NYTimes]
posted by jacknose (22 comments total)

Yes, the third post to mention "God" on this sabbath-like Monday. My apologies. (Go ahead, ... GodFilter.)
posted by jacknose at 8:10 AM on June 30, 2003

Reading Friedman is fascinating–the same way that it’s fascinating to watch a zoo gorilla make mounds out of its own feces.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:26 AM on June 30, 2003

thanks to the pending explosion of Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity

lost me right there. i don't know anything about friedman, but he obviously doesn't know squat.
posted by quonsar at 8:44 AM on June 30, 2003

quonsar, what the hell are you talking about?
posted by BlueTrain at 8:56 AM on June 30, 2003

Yyyyeah, quonsar are you saying that "wi-fi" isn't short for "wireless fidelity" or are you refuting that its explosion is imminent?
Funny that I find this article now...I just read this Salon article about Google. Interesting reading, side by side.
posted by ghastlyfop at 9:08 AM on June 30, 2003

Well at least this "God" is useful.
posted by jeblis at 9:12 AM on June 30, 2003

God, is, like, in the machine.

And wait...we might, like, be in the machine too.
posted by solistrato at 9:18 AM on June 30, 2003

Is this real? Three God posts in one day... I must be dreaming. But how can I know?
posted by insomnyuk at 9:21 AM on June 30, 2003

Google denies the existence of Googletheism, and Google doesn't appear on Google's Religion and Spirituality page. But if Google is God, then God is clearly not a fan of Scientology.

In any event, Google may be able to lead one to enlightenment: it recommended God-U-Like, which assesses various religions, and the Faith System Selector.

As for Friedman... nowadays he just throws metaphors at the wall to see if they'll stick. I can't figure out if he's lost it, or if he never had it and I used to be more easily impressed by arguments ranging from obvious to trivial.
posted by stonerose at 9:26 AM on June 30, 2003

Is Google God? Jeeves is ambivalent. Yahoo! for Yahweh!
posted by Frank Grimes at 9:44 AM on June 30, 2003

Searched the web for Google is God. Results 1 - 10 of about 513,000. Search took 0.21 seconds.

Even more curious, however, was the text ad at the side:

"God
Find the best deal! Compare prices,
Reviews and More - CNET Shopper.com
shopper.cnet.com"
posted by namespan at 9:55 AM on June 30, 2003

Searched the web for Google is the Matrix. Results 1 - 10 of about 254,000. Search took 0.33 seconds.
posted by namespan at 9:58 AM on June 30, 2003

google is good = about 1,820,000 results
google is a search engine = about 1,630,000 results
google sucks = about 137,000 results
google is Shiva = about 9,440 results
google is a tuna fish sandwich = about 851

(via me on slashdot. Their discussion on Friedman comes to pretty much the same conclusion some have here... this article was a mix of product placement, ill-commandeered metaphors, and not-exactly-Malcolm-Gladwell social observations. Blah.)
posted by weston at 10:05 AM on June 30, 2003

Google Thomas Friedman is a midget of a writer. =163 results.
posted by DenOfSizer at 10:52 AM on June 30, 2003

offtopic, i want:
Wi-Fi google that is integrated with a eyeglass display and earphone, with a voice recognition system that i can activate with a chord-key pad. so i could either chord in a word that is relevant to the current conversation or problem, or i could activate the voice recognition while i repeat a term or phrase. I would select links to follow, which would have a distilled version either display or be read to me.

some items i'd send to a more refined search, or google answers, or a reference librarian.

then I would be a conversational/debate god--once pop-up ads where eliminated.

just my little wishlist for a pseudo-pda. If someone can put one together let me know.
posted by th3ph17 at 10:53 AM on June 30, 2003

well, i guess i was just trying to point up that it's a pun and he dropped the ball as far as informing his audience. wi-fi has nothing to do with fidelity, as used in the last century to describe audio. it certainly doesn't tell the novice reader what wi-fi actually is, oh wait - it must be a reference to those sprint ads about crappy cellular audio. but WTF, in a world where most people don't understand that 'wireless', 'cellular' and 'radio' are essentially the same thing i suppose i'm being far too picky.
posted by quonsar at 1:22 PM on June 30, 2003

Cue trailer music.

Flash cut to a picture of a man on a cell phone.

<announcer voice>In a world </announcer voice>

Flash cut to picture of man holding PCMCIA card to his ear

<announcer voice>where most people don't understand</announcer voice>

Flash cut to woman laughing, listening to radio.

<announcer voice>that 'wireless', 'cellular', and 'radio' are sentially</announcer voice>

Flash cut in washed out grey to man in emergency room, blood covered surgical hands trying to remove PCMCIA card from ear.

<announcer voice>the same thing </announcer voice>

Linger on young girl text messaging "It's cool2be real" into cell phone.

<announcer voice>quonsar is being </announcer voice>

Zoom out to baby picking up phone, putting it in its mouth and squealing happily.

<announcer voice>far too picky. </announcer voice>
posted by namespan at 2:08 PM on June 30, 2003

the use of modulated radio frequency waves to convey information is the common thread, regardless of that PCMCIA card in your ear.
posted by quonsar at 2:13 PM on June 30, 2003

I thought it was the use of modulated radio frequency waves to transmit a packet switched network which spontaneously emerges into a distributed sentient everywhere-and-nowhere archetypical God being.

Sorry about the post above. I just can't hear "In a world..." anymore without having a flashback to 57 movie trailers. Generally at once. Anybody got some popcorn?
posted by namespan at 3:03 PM on June 30, 2003

sentient everywhere-and-nowhere archetypical God-being
indeed, a careful study of potential history reveals that the emergence of the SENAG-B protocol in the early 21st century was largely responsible for the appearances of well known dieties in various unemployment benefit queues around the world.
posted by quonsar at 3:51 PM on June 30, 2003

<sugarcrash>
"Since 9/11 the world has felt increasingly fragmented." This reads less like a NYT op-ed piece, and more like a freshman poli-sci paper, or a drunk after-dinner ramble at Friedman's place where the guests know their places too well to tell him to shut up. I'm reminded of those nepotistic 'comment pieces' on NPR where some producer's sister-in-law (who is trying to develop a 'career' as a writer) rambles on for five minutes about text messaging, or how their teenagers don't buy CDs anymore but download them from this new Interweb thingy! Initially I was thinking, if I were the NYT I think I'd be upset about this sort of stuff. But maybe it sells papers.
</sugarcrash>
posted by carter at 4:26 PM on June 30, 2003

Wot th3ph17 said. But with multi tabs to do multiple searches at once. Sounds like a Neal Stephenson gizmo.
posted by Duug at 1:40 PM on July 2, 2003