Google eyes

I remember Mr. Thomas taking a poll in junior year history class. "How many of you would oppose a tyrannical dictator?" he asked. We all made like the Founding Fathers and raised our hands. "Now what if the dictator guaranteed you three meals a day, and a roof over your head. Nice clothes to wear, and a job you enjoyed, and a way to get to that job every day. What if he guaranteed that your children would all go to college, and you'd be able to afford it, and your parents would retire at ease. What if he guaranteed that you'd make a decent salary and have leisure time and ways to enjoy it? That you'd always have access to affordable health care?" There were only two hands standing. "What if he gave you all of that for free?" The hands went down. The Russians smirked. Because the fact is, there's only one such dictator. We call him God (most of the time) and his kingdom is eternal (or so we're led to believe). We get everything we want for free, but the boss is always right.

I digress. The point is, that poll reminds me of Google. It started as a search engine with a funny name. Then they offered Maps, so we could figure out where we were going. Then Froogle, for buying needed supplies cheap. Then News, so we heard what they thought was worth knowing. Then all of a sudden it was the Google Toolbar, so they could keep an eye on our every move. Soon enough they had taken over YouTube, promising endless hours of amateur moviemaking fun, and even Blogger, turning every illiterate into an auteur. They gave us Gmail, endless storage space for large files and a history that keeps track of every correspondence. It's like they're answering our prayers, anticipating our needs, inventing the perfect service and offering it to the masses for free. Never mind that nowadays, we need a so-called "Google Account" just to log onto the Internet.

And the thing is, who wants a world without Google? We'd rather frolic in the Elysian Fields of the Googlenet, enjoying ourselves under the auspices of a benevolent dictator. I argue that it isn't fear that kills revolutionary spirit, it's inconvenience. It's too damned convenient and fun to live a comfortable life.

But maybe I'm overreacting. If the dictator gives us everything we want, then he isn't really a dictator, is he? He's an entrepreneur. Granted, Google sent AltaVista, LookSmart, Dogpile, Go, Excite and Lycos to a mass search engine grave. But honestly, who was Lycos to me, that I should weep for her?