Slashdot Mirror
How Google Is Becoming an Extension of Your Mind
An anonymous reader writes "An article at CNET discusses Google's ever-expanding role in search, and where it's heading over the next several years. The author argues it's becoming less of a discrete tool and more an integrated extension of our own minds. He rattles off a list of pie-in-the-sky functions Google could perform, which would have sounded ridiculous a decade ago. But in 2012.. not so much. Quoting: 'Think of Google diagnosing your daughter's illness early based on where she's been, how alert she is, and her skin's temperature, then driving your car to school to bring her home while you're at work. Or Google translating an incomprehensible emergency announcement while you're riding a train in foreign country. Or Google steering your investment portfolio away from a Ponzi scheme. Google, in essence, becomes a part of you. Imagine Google playing a customized audio commentary based on what you look at while on a tourist trip and then sharing photo highlights with your friends as you go. Or Google taking over your car when it concludes based on your steering response time and blink rate that you're no longer fit to drive. Or your Google glasses automatically beaming audio and video to the police when you say a phrase that indicates you're being mugged.'"
Nonsense. The brain has a huge degree of plasticity. If you have a stroke, fresh neural pathways will form and route around the damage. If you don't learn how to read an analog clock, the neurons will be used for something else instead. The idea that not being able to read a map is a form of brain damage is one of the most ludicrous things I've ever read on here.
It's analogous to developer frameworks (bear with me). Because developers can leverage stuff other devs have built, it frees them up to concentrate on higher order functions. THAT is what GPS, google search etc does for us. You should applaud it, it's what we've been doing the entire time we've been on this planet - building and building and building on layers of others knowledge and technology.
a quarter of a century before any sort of vehicle we have does not require a *licensed* driver to be on-board
Welcome to 2012, esteemed visitor. You will be pleased to know that the Cold War is over and that some of your predictions have come to pass:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17989553
Something bad is coming when people are suddenly anxious to tell the truth.
that the butler controls the master
the advisor controls the king
the henchman controls the boss
when power and control flip between superior and underling, the power inversion is based on who has the most information, and who can therefore use control of information as a means of control, period
and google has all the information
"How Your Mind Is Becoming an Extension of Google" is the real story
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
A computer (and google) are like a shovel. A shovel is an extension to your hand, Google is an extension of your mind.
It's a tool. We've had tools for thousands of years.
Free Martian Whores!