Googleworld at the ICA

Googleworld at the ICA

22 October, 2008
by: SpoonfedMeg

Tonight, it seems, I'll be present for the foretelling of the end of society as we know it. I'm learning of our descent into an Orwellian future where our every move and thought is read and recorded. The cause of our downfall, and the subject of tonight's lecture, 'Googleworld', at the ICA is none other than Google, which, despite a cuddly logo and a name two letters away from 'giggle', is poised to control the world.

Tonight's moderator, British tech critic Bill Thompson, introduces the two panelists. Randall Stross, a digital domain columnist for the New York Times and author of the book Planet Google, is particularly interested in Google's corporate goal of cataloging all of the world's information. Andrew Keen, a net critic and author of Cult of the Amateur, who somewhat infamously said about Google that 'even the Nazis didn't put artists out of business', looks at the net as a source of collective media and art that undermines professionals in those areas.

The discussion meanders from the morality of Google's business plan and upper management to whether or not their market position is unassailable. Members of the audience appear unpleasantly surprised as they learn that Google stores every one of their searches, indexes their blogs, scans their Google docs and runs a computer script through their Gmail.

The subject of Google's net and information monopoly is interesting, the audience is engaged and the panelists are clever. However the problem with this so-called debate is the clear ambivalence towards Google that everyone in the room seems to feel. Even Keen, who praises his own ability to speak critically of Google, lapses into reluctant praise of Google products, search functionality and future. Stross is even more flattering of the mathematical genius behind Google algorithms and their innovative culture. Bill Thompson is eager for some disagreement between the panelists but with each question, the pair find themselves agreeing over the fact that Google's increased access to our private and personal data is alarming but… it's just such a nifty set of online tools.

By the time Thompson takes questions from the audience, I doubt that there will be any new light shed upon Google other than relevant but slightly paranoid speculations about what they can do with all of the information they've accumulated. After a bout of audience participation that ranges from the technical  - 'Can you describe the way Google advertisers bid on keywords?' - to the more artsy - 'I'm a firm believer in the printed word. What is Google going to do to books?' - a final question is drawn from the crowd:

'With Google's goal of collecting all of the information in the world,' the panelists are asked, 'do they want all of the information for the benefit of a better Google that benefits the user, or do they just want the information?'

Keen and Stross share a worried glance and concede that they have no idea.

Yes, but… it's just such a nifty set of online tools.

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SpoonfedMeg