Why Google is on a Different Level

Google is on track to be the most valuable company in the world. I say this because of the vast amounts of information they store and process. Almost every search people do is recorded and intelligent algorithms are constantly combing the data and ultimately finding ways to make better sense of what the world searches for. The thing that sets Google apart is the massive scale in which they operate. There are many companies that process data, but Google’s edge is how much more they process. More data, more variety of data, more data processing routines… Who knows how such a vast system will evolve, or even snowball into something bigger.

With so much potential power, people are rightly concerned about letting a company like Google have so much info. The consequences of Google suddenly doing blatent acts of evil are pretty harmless now (ie. no one uses Google, the company eventually folds or fades into obscurity). But who knows, governments can and do force Google to share their user information (possibly for evil, as may be the case in places like N. Korea or China). The possibility of hackers or disgruntled employees releasing user data is always there also.

As society’s slow pace of evolution tries to keep up with the comparitively lightening fast pace of technological innovation, we will need to trust a company like Google at some point if we are to embrace all the awesome things that science fiction has shown are possible through technology. Although there seems to be countless barriers to trusting companies like Google, actions speak louder than words.

Google spends so much money doing genuinely cool things. For example, websites I make use javascript libraries stored on Google’s CDN saves me money because I don’t need to use my servers bandwidth to download those files to visitors to my site. Google Books was started because Sergey Brin (Google co-founder) wanted all the books in the world to be accessible to everyone, and also prevent disasters like libraries being destroyed or books being lost. Google’s google.org is not a separate non-profit entity created by Google, but Google itself using its know-how to improve how the world deals with technology. It is known that about 95% of Google’s revenue comes for ads. Admittedly, their ads are EVERYWHERE, but I also think it’s worth while pointing out that Google has dozens of products that are feature rich, freely available and don’t even require you to register to use them.

Etc, etc

Apple has been in the news a lot lately. Everyone and their kitchen sink owns, or wants to own, one of their products. The Apple brand is probably the strongest brand in the world, and there are probably people out there who would actually kill me for bad mouthing Apple or Steve Jobs. But why? Why such feirce loyalty? Apple makes great products, but what has one of the worlds largest companies given back? Not a fucking thing. Since Steve Jobs came back to Apple in ‘96, they haven’t donated anything to anyone. There are a lot of reasons to fear/hate/boycott Apple, but I honestly can’t find anything positive to say about the company aside from the obvious “they make cool products”.

Actions speak louder than words. Though we may still be a far way off from lauching space ships to seek out new life and new civilizations, I’ll put the limited amount of trust I have reserved for massive companies, and my hard earned dollars, in with companies like Google as I can’t think of any other organization willing to spend so much money on sending a space ship to explore space with the sole purpose of learning. In fact, every other organization on the planet would call that a waste of money.