glossing over the effects of Google

Continuing to read the 2006 iteration of The World is Flat, and just reached Thomas Friedman's analysis of Google. I guess it's essentially his job in writing this book, but Friedman falls hook/line/sinker for the argument that Google provides "'universal access' to the information in libraries all over the world" (178). Too much gee-whiz, not enough real analysis. He quotes Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, who argued that "the democratization of information is having a profound effect on society" (180). True, but apparently individuals within society are less informed than ever. Sure, you can use your cell phone to get a listing of Sushi restarurants in Bethesda. On the other hand, I heard Brian Lamb speak at a meeting this summer just down the Red Line in Washington...he made it sound like the typical college intern coming to C-SPAN doesn't know who Ronald Reagan was.

Likewise, Friedman glosses over the details of the currently-named Google Book Search Library Project, listing two US academic participants. You'd think that the possible impact of this service, provided by a "hugely profitable business," would provoke at least one cautionary sentence. I'm a fan of Google, but I also realize that an overreliance upon search and social networking technologies is having a damaging effect (read, "I saw the best minds in my generation destroyed by Google"). Unfortunately, Friedman, who did at least make a pro forma listing of Wal-Mart's more egregious offenses in the book, doesn't even consider any negative ramifications of the "in-forming" services such as Google and Yahoo!.