Google Perception vs. Reality – It’s Kind of Like The Matrix
Glenn Rubenstein is a total dork. Okay, so that’s not really news, but I was thinking about how the internet is fast becoming The Matrix, with Google search results shaping the perceived reality for those too tapped in to even notice anything else. What got my inner sci-fi geek started down this path was the Money.co.uk debacle. The site ran a piece about a kid supposedly using his father’s credit cards to hire a prostitute – and reputable news sources reprinted the story ad naseum, before it was revealed to be marketing hoax. Part of the reason it got so much traction was due to Google, which spidered and indexed story after story citing the original article, giving both the story and site enough weight to be believed by larger and larger media outlets. But hey, we can’t all be Neo. So to quote Morpheus, “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.” – Glenn Rubenstein
