This refers to your cover story UnGoogled (July 22). No matter what we think of Google, we google. If there is something that at once frees us from the tyranny of geography, it is google. Even though we see internationalism and multiculturalism waning, with nations increasingly asserting their individual identities, Google comes across as a uniter-in-chief. Somewhere the boundaries melt. You live in India or Iceland, Norway or Nigeria, America or Australia, there is a commonality that runs through—courtesy Google! It has shaped our social consciousness in more ways than any other idea or innovation of our times. Online access to information at the click of a button is changing social power dynamics. A masseur you-tubes to enhance her professional skills by watching a step-by-step demonstration of Ayurvedic therapies as much as a research scholar quickly googles a quote of Oscar Wilde to fine-tune her assignment. There’s no need for trips to libraries, or to borrow books from reluctant neighbours. Everything is available at the click of a button, 24x7.
Now the flip side. Doom-mongers warn that increasing levels of automation and artificial intelligence could create disruptions in life beyond what we could think of. Imagine a situation in which there is universal leisure and mass unemployment. A jobs apocalypse! Who knows? We see a smombie catastrophe (smombie is a portmanteau of smartphone and zombie) that has hit the world. Its ramifications are widespread, but nothing more chilling than South Korea’s example where trials are in progress for traffic lights to be put on the ground so that busy-on-smartphone people don’t end up running over each other.
There is no dearth of those who paint a dystopian future, yet the overall scenario can’t be described as dismal. By its very nature, change creates upheaval, upturns the established order and jostles us out of our comfort zone. With its exponential potential, Google is the new game-changer, affording everyone the audacity to hope. In a highly unequal world like ours, such easy access to information is empowering. My domestic help you-tubes as often as I do. The gardener excitedly zooms in a picture of an exotic plant and gets to find tips on growing it too. Somewhere the classes melt. Somewhere it gets even! Welcome aboard Google!
Sangeeta Kampani, Delhi
There are many search engines and Google is just the most popular. It seems the what-if you really wished to explore was “What if there was no internet?” The internet is here to stay and cannot be wished away. It has had a profound impact on us, changing the way we think and do many things—some of which were not possible even a decade ago. Posters can be torn down, but ideas remain forever in cyberspace. That’s what governments are uncomfortable with. Of course, many countries are building cyber-walls to stop the flow of ideas.
A recent study suggests 90 per cent of us are suffering from digital amnesia. We don’t commit data to memory because of the Google effect—we are safe in the knowledge that answers are just a click away, and are happy to treat the web like an extension of our own memory. The danger is not from information itself, but in the large quantities that are available on the internet, and in how the internet is changing the way we think and behave. Often we acquire shallow information with no deeper understanding. We are turning ourselves into ‘informavores’. The internet may well be making us think we are smarter than we really are, and this is a dangerous thing. Sadly, the number of people who can think for themselves is declining at an alarming rate.
H.N. Ramakrishna, Bangalore
Google is probably one of the best things to have happened to mankind. Like the Xerox company became synonymous with photocopying, Google has attained the same status for online searching. Googling has become such an integral part of our lives that anyone who has internet access will do so often to look for something or the other. Looked at from the perspective of somebody brought up in the 1970s and ’80s, Google is a real blessing. And Google has kept pace with our dynamic and technologically evolving world, offering products to suit our changing needs. It is impossible to imagine life without Google.
Bal Govind, Noida
Besides its various applications and services, Google is the topmost search engine, which within seconds provides you links to all available information about whatever you ask for, regarding anything from A to Z. Google has undoubtedly changed our lives, but technology is advancing by leaps and bounds. Who can say that something far better than Google won’t be invented in the future, changing our lives once again beyond imagination?
M.C. Joshi, Lucknow
Life without Google is impossible for pedestrian researchers and third-rate writers.
Rakesh Agrawal, Dehradun
What is being enacted in Karnataka is a shameful disgrace for the nation (Mutiny on HD Karnataka, July 22). Blatant and audacious horse-trading that makes fools out of voters exposes the glaring dishonesty and dearth of ethics and basic decency in politics, leaving one wonder if it’s really worthwhile standing in long queues, braving the sun and rain to vote these opportunists to power.
George Jacob, Kochi
There is a message in this unedifying coalition alliance: allow the single-largest party to form the government, always. By not doing so, you leave the door open for dissatisfied elements to create trouble in the long run. It’s unfortunate that the Congress and the JD(S) are fighting a desperate battle on two fronts—weaning away the rebels while protecting the existing flock, which is ready to flee any time. If the resignation of all the 13 lawmakers—who have marked their exit—is accepted, the Congress and the JD(S) government, which has a wafer-thin majority, could collapse. This is because most MLAs who have resigned are of the unanimous opinion that Kumaraswamy has been ineffective. Kumaraswamy in his previous stint as CM was efficient and managed to protect his flock, HDK 2.0 has been a disaster. The Congress has accused the BJP of trying to topple the state government. This is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Last May, when the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 104 assembly seats, the Congress and the JD(S)—both sworn enemies with 78 and 37 seats respectively—decided to join hands to keep the BJP out. Well, the shoe is in the other foot now.
K.S. Jayatheertha, Bangalore
This refers to your interview with Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress (‘The BJP Successfully Appealed to the People’s Basest Instincts’, July 15). The first-time MP has won over many, especially on social media, with her articulate and feisty maiden speech in the Lok Sabha on the theme of fascism. What she didn’t say but others know is how the regime of her leader, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, also fits all the criteria laid down by her. While she may have temporarily impressed many, this honeymoon with the public isn’t likely to last. Of course, Derek O’Brien has competition now.
Deepak Kher, Pune
This refers to Fresh Dew on Good Length (July 29). We failed to have an authoritative coach-cum-manager like Hemu Adhikari in 1971, or more recently Anil Kumble, to guide the team to glory. We were finding fault with Greg Chappell after the 2007 World Cup debacle. As a matter of fact, we won 16 ODI matches on the trot under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy and Chappell’s mentorship. We were not able to chase in one match and became chokers in another. Kohli played spoilsport by kicking Kumble out and now has to face the wrath of the cricket-loving public. We lost 14 finals on the trot when Sachin Tendulkar was at his peak. In all those matches, Sachin could score hardly 200-odd runs, a 20-plus average. Our weaknesses came to the fore several times, but we never made an attempt to correct our mistakes. Fans are now baying for the heads of both the captain and the coach.
C.K. Subramaniam, Mumbai
This refers to The Latest Heir-Bender (July 15). Mayawati, a vocal critic of dynastic politics, has succumbed to the lure of nepotism, which is second nature to Indian politicians. Mayawati is fooling no one when she claims that the BSP adhered to the ‘gathbandhan dharma’ with the SP in the interests of the country. She had her own axe to grind, with an eye on the PM’s chair, and it was the support of Muslims and Yadavs to the alliance that helped her party avoid absolute decimation in UP. With her latest move, Behenji has lost the moral right to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. Under her reign, the BSP seems to have consigned the noble ideals of B.R. Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram to oblivion. It’s self-aggrandisement and realpolitik, not Dalit empowerment, that the party swears by now.
Padmini Raghavendra, Secunderabad
This refers to No Relief For The Guards Battlion (July 15). Strange bedfellows might just get stranger with Mamata Banerjee’s quest to seek the Congress and TMC’s support against the BJP. Quite understandably, both the CPI(M) and Congress leadership refused. Even though there are no permanent enemies or friends in politics, a TMC-Left tie-up is quite the impossible proposition. Mamata took the TMC from strength to strength by opposing the Left’s ‘red fort’. As for the Congress, even though it matters little whether it accepts Mamata’s proposal (it didn’t), it too would not like to destroy remnants of its brand equity by allying with its splinter faction.
J. Akshobhya, Mysore
