Google if you're reading this it's too late

Google whether we like it or not has a lurking presence in our every day lives. Admittedly, I use a Google service every day considering its e-mail service has an amazing amount of storage capacity and has efficient work school/work functions such as Google docs or Google drive.

But just how big is Google?

According to a 2014 report by ZenithOptimedia, not only is Google the world’s largest media owner but also its share has increased by 136% of the second largest media owner, Disney.  ZenithOptimedia based its rankings on media revenue– revenue that comes from businesses to support advertising.

Now, this comes at no surprise considering an important component of Google’s business is its ability to display targeted ads based on search inquiries.

In fact in 2015, Google’s ad revenue amounted to a whopping 67.39 billion dollars.

But despite all the convenience and innovation Google offers it’s consequently tracking and storing all that data. Now this isn’t exactly jaw-dropping information and Google of course offers you a tool called Dashboard to allow for some transparency. However, in some respect Google’s new ventures such as self-driving cars may prove to be entirely too invasive.

In an interview with the Atlantic, Google chairman, Eric Schmidt said, “We don’t need you to type at all because we know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less guess what you’re thinking about … Is that over the line?”

Yes. That is over the line.

Schmidt went on to say, “Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it. I would argue that implanting things in your brain is beyond the creepy line … at least for the moment until the technology gets better.”

Google’s subjective view of privacy is entirely disturbing and I would argue that it’s over achievement “moon shot” culture is somewhat evil.

In an interview with Wired magazine Google’s, Larry page embodies and explains this moon shot culture; the idea that Google should be “doing more” or shooting for the moon. Google’s new division, Google X does just that.

Google X is considered to be semi-secret, but a couple of projects include self-driving cars, rapid delivery services through flying vehicles or balloon-flying routers to bring the internet to everyone.

In hindsight these ideas are fairly utopian and “world-changing,” but any firm with that much reach and power is bound to create fear. Is Google’s incessant need to save the world, evil?

At the cost of my own privacy, I would say sure.  Technology and innovation is useful has indeed saved lives in respect to health and medicine sectors, but I believe Google’s idea of a privacy “line” vastly differs from my own.

Google’s hyper-heroic culture has villain-esque qualities. It’s not enough to provide a quick, efficient search engine in the name of knowledge or education, but also to store that data to make it profitable for the engineers of said engine. Google is a marketer’s/advertiser’s dream. It takes something as complex as the human brain: its dislikes, like, loves etc. and quantifies it based on clicks, impressions and various user behavior tools.

Google not only wants to save the world but save it better than anyone else.

Below are some attached videos of some interesting Google projects.