Genuinely Surprised.

wow. 7 comments and most of them positive. i am really happy with the response to this last post and the discussion it has already spurred.

In response to the Googlers. I am fond of Google (I'm using their mail service, their analytics service, their blog service and their search engine). Its not so much that I question, well I do question, but it's not so much that I'm suspicious of Google's motives, direction, etc. In fact, I do agree that they have been one of the most responsible corporations today which is incredibly relieving and nice to see. The issue that makes me nervous (not even that I'm necessarily against it) is the fact that the information is compiled at all. Because once Google creates a fantastic catalogued information network, it then is something that can be abused, taken from Google, manipulated. Google no doubt is creating it responsibly (as far as we know) And doing so legally in America and taking the proper precautions to protect it's creation. However, its the basic nervousness that you could get (following Crosby's bank analogy) by giving your money to someone else to keep (what if the bank gets robbed?) see. Now then you've lost your money and it wasn't the bank's fault really at all, they had a laser guarded safe! But thankfully, we have a system in place (FDIC) that will repay me my lost money (or at least some of it).

Now it may be possible to set up a similar system in the Google case. But I can't quite get reimbursed for my DNA or personal information. Perhaps a change in Social Security, bank, etc etc but as for my profile? Can I really become another person, if my personality is robbed? And what would something like that say for our relationship to who we are? And when you postulate on how we would deal with these or other problems that come up necessarily with creating something new and amazing like Google is, we can start to see dangerous possibilities. Because then we see how interconnected each different sector is by our basic framing mindset. The way we view things affects how we deal with ALL types of problems. Because if we then dissociate our 'personalities' by having profiles, how would that fit into that new slew of drugs we now have provided?

Certainly, my guessing at how to insure the information Google indexes is probably nowhere near a good way or whatnot, or what I think may actually happen. But that's not the point, the point is HOW we go about problem solving and what we consider a good solution. Things like the Patriot Act don't help either.

Will we the people actually vote to allow (or maybe force) Google to surrender its user information to the government or some other authority to preserve our 'security' or lifestyle or SUV or because we've been inundated with unbalanced media? Those type worries crop up simply with the creation of Google's network, not specifically the motives behind creating it, or the conduction of the company itself.

Gosh, I'm so glad you all responded. This stuff is great to think about. And yes mom, thanks for the socks and skittles. lifesavers truly.

Raj, I had read perhaps the same or a similar article discussing that very problem. When we start talking about medicine, drugs, health, DNA, basically all of the hot topics in Health Science these days they all bring with them a gigantic trunk of ethical baggage. It makes me a bit nervous that we continue to make available to the public these innovations before we as a society have taken the time, or agreed, or at least comprised on an ethical interpretation of their application. I think it's getting to the point where the technology affects things that are too important to "just see how it goes". Which I feel is the prevailing ethical attitude. It's part of what I tried to address in my thesis. A moral/ethical vacuum exists today. We just don't really know how to act or think. Perhaps this vacuum has a link to a rise in fundamentalism. It probably does somehow. The one shining light that guides behavior today is the accumulation of wealth. Which is nauseating, not to mention wreaking havoc on our Earth and global populations.

Well I'm outta time. So that's all ya get. But please keep it coming. I love this shit.