"Just Google It"

That's what my grandfather said to me the other day. I couldn't believe it. I asked him a question about something I was curious about (I don't even remember what it was) and he turned to me and said "Why don't you Google it?" My grandfather, an 88-year-old World War II veteran who has always loved to spend his time reading books and newspapers and writing his own material, told me to Google something. This seemed more than a little odd to me.
But it made me start thinking. And as I was pondering his statement to me on my drive home, I realized just how technologically advanced and digitized this world is becoming. Just the fact that "Google" has become a verb should be an indication as to how much we have come to rely on the technological advances of our society. It is a testament to just how much the written word is becoming obsolete. Books used to be special. The written word used to be special. Research used to require effort...going to the library, opening up a book, writing down your notes. Now it only takes a few seconds to sit in front of your computer, type in a web address and acquire exactly the information that you need from a website like Google or Wikipedia. It has become easier than ever to acquire information, and on the surface this seems like a great thing. But as I thought about it more, I realized that this might not be such a good phenomenon. We are becoming so used to the ease in which we can use the internet to have any information ever known to man right at our fingertips that I am afraid we are beginning to lose any appreciation that we once had for knowledge.
One blogger published online his theory about Google taking over the world. In his blog, fittingly titled "Google World Domination," he even has a countdown to exactly when he thinks Google will take over our world. One of Google's newest projects debuting in 2009, Google Wave, is expected to replace everything from email to Instant Messaging and so much more.

Absolutely everything is available on the internet now, and by simply typing a key word into Google, you can find anything in the whole world. Google is always advancing itself, with their applications such as images, videos, books, scholarly articles, and even Google Calendar, where you can make your own online calendar to share with friends. If I enter my address into GoogleEarth, I can see the details of my house from a picture taken from outer space...right down to my dog standing in the back yard. It knows all about you - who you talk to, what websites you search, what types of things you like. Google and other similar websites seem to have taken over every aspect of our life, and continue to do so more and more, in ways that we can't even comprehend now.
In an article in BusinessWeek titled "Is Google Too Powerful?" Rob Hof states that Google may "have too much power for its own good." This thought comes from the notion that a market is like an biological system and that when something gets too big, the ecosystem fights back, and he explains that in time, Google will eventually stumble and fail. Perhaps this is inevitable to happen with something so huge.
The fact that the internet is so plugged in to us and who we are brings back my point of books and written words becoming obsolete. In years to come, no one will appreciate books. No one will write books. No one will read books. Everything will be online, at your fingertips and accessible in minutes. The days of walking to the library will be over. Perhaps the days of libraries themselves will be over. And the fact that my own grandfather used the verb "Google" brought this fact to life for me more than anything. I started thinking about what things were like when he was young and realized just how different things are for him now and how strange it is that things have changed so much just in his lifetime. If the world has become this technologically advanced in such a short amount of time as this, who knows what could be possible in the years to come? It is almost scary to think about.
We joke now, but one day Google may, in fact, take over the world.