The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)

We find no apocalyptic visions in its pages; if anything, Siva Vaidhyanathan's confidence in the inevitable and not-too-distant demise of Google urges us to extrapolate lessons learned from its rise and fall and apply those lessons generally across a world where information and power are wielded digitally. But don't misunderstand: Google is still the matter.

It takes a few sections but Vaidhyanathan eventually establishes his own ethos as critic without penning a straw man version of Google Inc. to stand against. No, he just argues that although Google does obscure its ultimately commercial and self-interested motivations via its reassuring corporate philosophy, "Don't be evil," it is our faith in Google and lack of critical thought that pose a more dangerous threat. So, Vaidhyanathan's discussion of Google is, in a more abstract sense, a discussion about ourselves and the institutions we come to rely on so quickly.