2014: A Brave New World ?

2014: A Brave New World?

Thanks for the great link Rahul! I thought it was too good a link to be simply lost in the comments and probably deserved a post of its own. At least, in terms of prophecy, this movie is no less prophetic than Orwell's 1984 or Huxley's Brave New World
Please check the links for Google EPIC at broom.org or at Robin Sloan, inventor of the EPIC - the Evolving Personalized Information Construct. An 8 minute capsule of a slightly cheeky-alarmist-humorous conspiracy theory.

[SPOILERS BELOW]
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Many of us have been quite gung-ho about Google for quite some time, but for how long? Looking at the rate it's gobbling up companies, one wonders if it's going to be the Microsoft of the next decade? I depend on Google for so many essential utilities now; if they took them away I would be quite unsettled. Can I imagine a day without - Google, Google News, Google Images, Gmail and Blogger? Among others that are popular, I have stayed away from the completely foolish exercise called (IMEO - in my exalted/elitist opinion) Orkut, and have not used Picassa at all. Keyhole is cool but not useful on a daily basis.
For quite some time, I was reluctant to read news online because I loved the physical touch of the paper so much. There not many things that can still quite match the pleasure of being the first to read the morning's newspaper and being the first to crush, crease and mess it all up. But that form of reading is clearly on its way out. What can beat hyperlinks? The chief advantage in my opinion is avoiding the tyranny of having read only one paper and its particular viewpoint.
Coming back to the movie clip. I liked the way they tell the story of the next big match-up of the Internet - The Redmond Giants versus the Mountain View Young Bucks . Quite right about TIVO too! So far, Google has not irked the nerds by playing any dirty games. But wasn't it long ago that a slightly nerdy looking guy with glasses slowly took over the world and then refused to share it? Google is quite aware that everyone loves the underdog, but tomorrow when it becomes the top dog? Maybe, I saw Fight Club yesterday and I am ready to believe anything, but the wars of our times are going to be so different. How can you expect to become a Goliath and then still hope for the support that you got as a David?