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Wired Writer Imagines Google Island
theodp writes "The last thing Wired's Mat Honan remembered before awaking on the self-driving boat that dropped him on the island was sitting through a four-hour Google I/O keynote in Moscone Center and hearing Google CEO Larry Page promote a vision of a utopia where society could be free to innovate and experiment, unencumbered by government regulations or social norms. 'Welcome to Google Island,' a naked-save-for-a-pair-of-eyeglasses Larry Page tells Honan. 'As soon as you hit Google's territorial waters, you came under our jurisdiction, our terms of service. Our laws — or lack thereof — apply here. By boarding our self-driving boat you granted us the right to all feedback you provide during your journey. This includes the chemical composition of your sweat. Remember when I said at I/O that maybe we should set aside some small part of the world where people could experiment freely and examine the effects? I wasn't speaking theoretically. This place exists. We built it.'"
iLand
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
It was supposed to be a three hour tour, but it's been part of our lives ever since.
Congratulations (?) to Wired's Mat Honan for inventing a subgenre that nobody wants.
All was well until the place was discovered by a colony of penguins...
This appears to be a story depicting a sort-of utopian future (of limited extent - an island) where there are no rules.
I'm not sure from the context whether the author is in favor or against the concept. It somehow feels like he is knitting together several uncomfortable consequences of "no rules" in an attempt to paint that future as dystopian.
The thing people always miss, the important overlooked point, is that no one wants a state where there are no rules. What people invariably want is a state which has rules enforcing human rights, and little else.
The most basic human right is to have sovereignty over ones own body. Mat Honan's article shows us that with no rules, outsiders would be able to do anything they wanted to us - even against our consent. It would be the strong doing whatever they wanted to the weak. Typical, obvious, and predictable - we have many examples of lawless societies where the strong do just that.
Many of our rules are violations of that first most basic right, pretty much anything that someone else thinks that you should do or not-do for your own good: rules about drugs, prostitution, abortion, doctor-assisted suicide, and yes, wearing clothes. We could do away with large swaths of the legal landscape and eliminate large parts of government, both local and federal, if we could just say "do anything you want, so long as you don't infringe on the rights of others".
If you would like to read about a rule-less society which enforces basic human rights and is a little less dystopian, try "Manna" by Marshall Brain. It's an easy read and an interesting story.
Another good example is "Voyage From Yesteryear" by James Hogan. A little longer and with more drama, but essentially a rule-less society which enforces basic human rights.
Google's more of an intensive care bed. Where they stick a probe into your every orifice.
How you equate the human need to explore with this self indulgent shite is beyond me. Google is a marketing company, end of. That they've managed to make the "don't be evil" tag stick in the face of their persistent attempts to violate every human convention about privacy in the name of gross lucre merely means they are a good marketing company.
Hopefully it will be forgotten before too long.
What people invariably want is a state which has rules enforcing human rights, and little else.
Sort of. What people invariably want is a state where the rules benefit them, or at least not stopping them from doing what they want to do.
It would be the strong doing whatever they wanted to the weak.
Given Brin and company are arguably the most powerful people in the world, it's not terribly surprising he wants a land where there are no rules, is it? See above.
Please help metamoderate.
We have just announced on the Official Google Blog that we will soon retire Google Island (the actual date is August 18, 2013). We know Island has a devoted following who will be very sad to see it go. We're sad too.
There are two simple reasons for this: usage of Google Island has declined, and as a company we're pouring all of our energy into fewer products. We think that kind of focus will make for a better user experience.
To ensure a smooth transition, we're providing a three-month sunset period so you have sufficient time to find an alternative island. If you want to retain your Island data, you can do so through Google Takeout.
Thank you again for using Google Island.
Don't worry, we promise to leave you entirely alone on your island, just you libertarians, the telephone sanitizers, the hairdressers and advertising account executives.
After reading the summary, I couldn't help but think of the storyline to the first Bioshock.
Just scroll right down and you'll read a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started at Google IO,
and it involves a ship.
Some fool was a dreamer of sailing men,
All naked -- That's for sure!
"They'd 'innovate'; No, it won't be gay",
Said the blogger du jour -- A blogger "du jour"!
The commenters started getting rough,
The idyllic ship was tossed,
It wrought imagery of a lawless few:
Your privacy would be lost -- Yar! "privacy wood" be "lost!"
The ship made port at a private pier:
A Google-owned desert isle,
With Googliaaaaans!
The Blogger too...
Some billionaires,
(but no wives),
Home "movie" stars,
Terms of Service-er, and
Hairy Mans!
Here on Googlian's Isle!
"Gay" is such a weird label. People who openly profess to being 'gay' can go around claiming that other people are 'gay' and use it to as the basis to ridicule them. Yet it's supposed to be something that we all accept in one another. Its like peoples' copulation preferences are something the defines them and must direct the rest of their lives. Really, get over it.