Google is Making us More Streamlined

The notion that Google is making us stupid seems ridiculous. That is to say, the notion that more information makes us stupid is also ridiculous. There's a lot to love and hate about the internet, but I firmly believe that Google, and nearly everything they do, falls into the "love" category.

This isn't the first time I've read or heard something about the internet destroying all that scholarly people hold sacred. For years, people have discussed the possibility of AI (artificial intelligence) taking over our defense systems and turning them on us, the humans. While I love movies such as The Matrix and I, Robot, I seriously doubt that we as a people are ignorant enough to give something free control over our weapons with no fail safe.

Now I have to digress as I believe I'm beginning to ramble about that which has little to do with my main point, and that is that Google is streamlining the way we think, as suggested in the article, but I believe it's for the better. Some of the concern likely comes from the fact, not raised in the article, that such streamlined information threatens our social hierarchy, regardless of individual position.

We're already seeing this in the Journalism industry. It seems like I'm constantly reading about magazines and newspapers folding because they can't compete with the internet, but for every newspaper that folds, there's a new pop-up website just like it on the internet.

Sports journalism is the perfect example here. Bloggers, fans that write that have no formal journalism education, are now getting media credentials to big time sporting events, including the most recent Super Bowl and NFL draft. Meanwhile, their conventional, local reporters are getting shunned because they don't cover a large enough market.

Bleacher Report, a blogging website that I detest greatly, just announced that they had secured $22 million in additional funding. Do you see many local newspapers receiving even $500,000 in funding? I think not.

As we see professions break down, we'll also likely witness an evolution of the way we learn. Journalism programs, I think, will probably be the first to go. Instead of formal classes, writers will likely work their way up the ladder at sites that allow fan writers such as Bleacher Report and SB Nation.

Don't get me wrong, their will always, for the foreseeable future, be medical schools to attend, architecture programs, etc., but i think the age of instant information will transform the way we read, learn, and think. Frankly, I like progress. If it's not broken, make it better, and I think that's what Google is trying to do.