Did Google really made me more dumber?

Any commentary done on the internet is likely to reference Google, being that Google is possibly the most profitable, and influential website that has ever existed. It is the ultimate switchboard, taking us anywhere online that our little heart’s desire. As Cohen and Rosenzweig allude to, any new website builder must take into account the effects of this popular search engine. In regards to their own website, they have this to say: “Almost 60 percent of those who come to History Matters arrive via a search engine, especially the currently dominant search engine, Google, which gives us about three-fifths of that traffic. Thus you need to understand how your site gets listed and ranked in Google.” (Pg. 148)

"Stoopid is as stoopid does" Forrest Gump

But for all of Google’s growing influence on our world an argument has emerged as to whether or not this is making humans dumber. Google takes away the effort of information gathering. We have outsourced our knowledge to Google. Google has made us intellectually lazy. We don’t even need to know where we are going anymore (in the real world) because Google Maps will get us to wherever we need to go. These are arguments I’ve personally heard and understand to a certain extent, but yet I can’t help but still view Google as a good thing.

The sophistication of Google is astounding. As the authors point out, “Google found a way to measure reputation on the web through a recursive analysis of the interconnectedness of the medium itself.” (Pg. 149) How is that possible? For a search-engine to be able to measure something as amorphous as reputation, and effectively rearrange our search results accordingly makes me feel not so much that Google is making me dumber, but that Google is so much smarter than I am that it makes me feel dumb.

Sweet internet glasses Mr. President!

Aside from what Google initially set out to do as a search-engine, we might look towards other business ventures they have made to determine if it’s making us dumber. They have developed a self-driving car that we will see on the streets soon enough. They have created new glasses that will bring the power of the internet that one step closer to our brain. It’s probably only a matter of time before they develop a chip to implant into our brains.

Google is making the day-to-day tasks of our lives easier, which theoretically would allow us time to pursue more, whatever that might signify.  Google is changing the way humans operate in the world. As a company they appear as concerned with inducing a paradigm shift as they are with making money. Personally, I can’t help but appreciate their innovations.