Could we live without Google?

freakrz · 11th April 2006, 21:34

"For Everything, There is Google"...

its been a part of my life since i have been in this university....i could strongly say that without google very few students would graduate from here....

its been a part of my masters programme...we never felt the need for any books after having google.you can find everything and anything you want to find..

google actually searches deep down,places where users are not allowed to find info from.it has been a problem once.but still if you can get the right query string across i am sure you ll find more than what you expected.

P.S:If anyone wants to know more about google hacks P.M me i will send you the e-book.

major · 11th April 2006, 21:45

For me its Roti, Kapda, Makaan, and Google.
I think the above says it all.

Helped me a lot when I am in need of any info... Specially for my MBA projects .. He he..

Cheers

Major

BuRnT RuBbEr · 12th April 2006, 09:52

it will take me 5 minutes to find the information that i now find in one minute. that is the kind of difference that google makes. it still aint a compititor to manual and peer digging for information that we used to do in early days and still have to resort to at times.

jesal · 12th April 2006, 11:15

if it wasnt launched i guess i could have. but now i reckon people to do a google over stuff so guess not. used to it i guess. what im trying to think is what i used to use before it came in .

TributE · 12th April 2006, 11:21

Yup. I agree with all of you guys. Google is, and from now on will always be an important part of our lives.....According to some, Google will become a much bigger company than MICROSOFT in a few years.....WOW. For more on this topic, go to this link. Consists of amazing predictions in this field for the near future....Amazing Presentation! Be sure to check it out.......http://mccd.udc.es/orihuela/epic/ols-master.html

rareone · 12th April 2006, 11:36

google has become a part of our daily routine.

Moreover thru Google i came 2 knw abt Team BHP

satish_appasani · 12th April 2006, 11:40

Google has become a verb for most of us. When somebody asks me about something, i ask them "Have you googled?". It's now a synonym to Search. Will not be surprised if it makes entry in to dictionary in the near future.

BTW, did anybody check this site : http://www.googlefight.com/

Hope MS's Live will replace Google. After all it has only 4 characters to type to Google's 6. But this certainly will not sound good: "Have you lived?"

Rehaan · 12th April 2006, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by satish_appasani

Hope MS's Live will replace Google. After all it has only 4 characters to type to Google's 6. But this certainly will not sound good: "Have you lived?"

Hey Satish,

I use opera. It has a function where, if in the search bar i type "G keyword" it will go to google and search for "keyword".

I believe IE has a similar function...or maybe i saw it via tweakUI, but i never managed to get it to work!

Or you could just get the google toolbar if you do not wish to type anything extra other than what you wanna search for!

cya
R

Sam Kapasi · 12th April 2006, 12:38

There is another site. Really funny.

It sounds EXACTLY like google, but the first few letters are replaced in a mammary fashion. heh heh
Get it, *wink wink* ?

There actually is a site called that.

freakrz · 12th April 2006, 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by TributE

Yup. I agree with all of you guys. Google is, and from now on will always be an important part of our lives.....According to some, Google will become a much bigger company than MICROSOFT in a few years.....WOW. For more on this topic, go to this link. Consists of amazing predictions in this field for the near future....Amazing Presentation! Be sure to check it out.......http://mccd.udc.es/orihuela/epic/ols-master.html

Thats an intresting link..

Samurai · 12th April 2006, 16:03

While google has made a great difference in our lives, I sometime wonder about the long term effect. Having knowledge is slowly getting replaced by Having access to knowledge. I think I can safely take the analogy of using calculator in primary schools in USA. In olden days the students had to rote learn the multiplication tables, additions, subtractions, division, etc. But in the 80s and 90s, they were replaced by use of calculators. As a result now it is very common to see young cashiers who can't operate without cash registers, they can't make a simple addition, subtraction without using calculators.

Google seems to have taken it to the next level. Now we have programmers cutting and pasting code from net, grad students lifting entire thesis from the net, etc. Ultimately, you don't need knowledge as long as access to google is available.

This has been happening for a long time, we have become a society of specialists very dependent on technology. Our basic survival skills have been reducing by every generation. My father is entirely independent of Internet. My grandfather was entirely independent of electronics. My great-grandfather was entirely independent of automobiles. Further we go back, they could survive with less and less and were more and more resourceful.

Does anyone remember Cyrus Harding from Mysterious Island (Jules Verne)? Man! That guy was a real engineer. I got a serious inferiority complex after reading what all that guy knew in the 19th century. Being a 21th century Engineer, I know much much lesser than him.

GTO · 12th April 2006, 18:15

Excellent post, Samurai. But it brings to mind one more point. You may have knowledge within or access to it (e.g. via Google), but what separates the men from the boys is knowing how to use it!

In our era of information and service-economies, this will always be the platform to success.

GTO

Samurai · 12th April 2006, 19:28

Thanks GTO. Let me mention one more scary angle to this. Couple of years back I was talking to my uncle who is a doctor in USA. He has worked in India, UK and USA and is now practically retired. He was telling me that these days surgeons in the OT are so dependent on computers and other hi-tech equipments, if one of them fails during a surgery, the surgeon will be helpless, they are not trained to work without them, god save the patient. Also, he has met surgeons who are ignorant about human anatomy and physicians who can't do hands-on diagnosis. Most physicians these days order various lab tests based on external symtoms and derive their conclusions from the lab results rather than hands on diagnosis. It all started because of malpratice law suits resulting from few wrong diagnosis. Now nobody wants to take risk and avoid making any diagnosis until lab results are available. He says art of clinical diagnosis will soon be thing of a past in USA.

I can imagine a day when I visit a doctor he will feed my medical history and illness symtoms to a google like tool and read out the diagnosis.

sbasak · 12th April 2006, 19:53

Quote:

I can imagine a day when I visit a doctor he will feed my medical history and illness symtoms to a google like tool and read out the diagnosis.

That is already happening in developed world to a great extent!
Not only in medicine, but everywhere.
A decade back, any component of a car can be repaired by mechanics. Nowadays, they mostly plug the car with a computer, determine what fault code it returns, and then simply replace the faulty component. Just like Lego bricks....
I don't underestimate the power of internet searching but most young people have a tendecy to believe whatever they see on internet as true!

Rehaan · 12th April 2006, 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai

I sometime wonder about the long term effect. Having knowledge is slowly getting replaced by Having access to knowledge.

Very very interesting point Samurai!

Quote:

I can imagine a day when I visit a doctor he will feed my medical history and illness symtoms to a google like tool and read out the diagnosis.

I dont even want to imagine how much that software will cost!

cya
R

11th April 2006, 21:34	#31
freakrz BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Visakhapatnam Posts: 176 Thanked: 52 Times View My Garage	"For Everything, There is Google"... its been a part of my life since i have been in this university....i could strongly say that without google very few students would graduate from here.... its been a part of my masters programme...we never felt the need for any books after having google.you can find everything and anything you want to find.. google actually searches deep down,places where users are not allowed to find info from.it has been a problem once.but still if you can get the right query string across i am sure you ll find more than what you expected. P.S:If anyone wants to know more about google hacks P.M me i will send you the e-book.
	() Thanks

11th April 2006, 21:45	#32
major BHPian Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: mumbai Posts: 53 Thanked: 0 Times	For me its Roti, Kapda, Makaan, and Google. I think the above says it all. Helped me a lot when I am in need of any info... Specially for my MBA projects .. He he.. Cheers Major
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 09:52	#33
BuRnT RuBbEr BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: DL 1 Posts: 367 Thanked: 13 Times	it will take me 5 minutes to find the information that i now find in one minute. that is the kind of difference that google makes. it still aint a compititor to manual and peer digging for information that we used to do in early days and still have to resort to at times.
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 11:15	#34
jesal BANNED Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 2,323 Thanked: 15 Times View My Garage	if it wasnt launched i guess i could have. but now i reckon people to do a google over stuff so guess not. used to it i guess. what im trying to think is what i used to use before it came in .
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 11:21	#35
TributE BHPian Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Mumbai Posts: 47 Thanked: Once	Yup. I agree with all of you guys. Google is, and from now on will always be an important part of our lives.....According to some, Google will become a much bigger company than MICROSOFT in a few years.....WOW. For more on this topic, go to this link. Consists of amazing predictions in this field for the near future....Amazing Presentation! Be sure to check it out.......http://mccd.udc.es/orihuela/epic/ols-master.html
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 11:36	#36
rareone BHPian Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Navi Mumbai Posts: 256 Thanked: 11 Times View My Garage	google has become a part of our daily routine. Moreover thru Google i came 2 knw abt Team BHP
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 11:40	#37
satish_appasani Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 1,113 Thanked: 105 Times View My Garage	Google has become a verb for most of us. When somebody asks me about something, i ask them "Have you googled?". It's now a synonym to Search. Will not be surprised if it makes entry in to dictionary in the near future. BTW, did anybody check this site : http://www.googlefight.com/ Hope MS's Live will replace Google. After all it has only 4 characters to type to Google's 6. But this certainly will not sound good: "Have you lived?" Last edited by satish_appasani : 12th April 2006 at 11:50.
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 12:38	#39
Sam Kapasi Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mumbai (but wat Posts: 7,000 Thanked: 2,460 Times View My Garage	There is another site. Really funny. It sounds EXACTLY like google, but the first few letters are replaced in a mammary fashion. heh heh Get it, wink wink ? There actually is a site called that. Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 12th April 2006 at 12:40.
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 16:03	#41
Samurai Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore/Udupi Posts: 26,001 Thanked: 48,017 Times View My Garage	While google has made a great difference in our lives, I sometime wonder about the long term effect. Having knowledge is slowly getting replaced by Having access to knowledge. I think I can safely take the analogy of using calculator in primary schools in USA. In olden days the students had to rote learn the multiplication tables, additions, subtractions, division, etc. But in the 80s and 90s, they were replaced by use of calculators. As a result now it is very common to see young cashiers who can't operate without cash registers, they can't make a simple addition, subtraction without using calculators. Google seems to have taken it to the next level. Now we have programmers cutting and pasting code from net, grad students lifting entire thesis from the net, etc. Ultimately, you don't need knowledge as long as access to google is available. This has been happening for a long time, we have become a society of specialists very dependent on technology. Our basic survival skills have been reducing by every generation. My father is entirely independent of Internet. My grandfather was entirely independent of electronics. My great-grandfather was entirely independent of automobiles. Further we go back, they could survive with less and less and were more and more resourceful. Does anyone remember Cyrus Harding from Mysterious Island (Jules Verne)? Man! That guy was a real engineer. I got a serious inferiority complex after reading what all that guy knew in the 19th century. Being a 21th century Engineer, I know much much lesser than him.
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 18:15	#42
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 72,228 Thanked: 315,501 Times View My Garage	Excellent post, Samurai. But it brings to mind one more point. You may have knowledge within or access to it (e.g. via Google), but what separates the men from the boys is knowing how to use it! In our era of information and service-economies, this will always be the platform to success. GTO
	() Thanks

12th April 2006, 19:28	#43
Samurai Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore/Udupi Posts: 26,001 Thanked: 48,017 Times View My Garage	Thanks GTO. Let me mention one more scary angle to this. Couple of years back I was talking to my uncle who is a doctor in USA. He has worked in India, UK and USA and is now practically retired. He was telling me that these days surgeons in the OT are so dependent on computers and other hi-tech equipments, if one of them fails during a surgery, the surgeon will be helpless, they are not trained to work without them, god save the patient. Also, he has met surgeons who are ignorant about human anatomy and physicians who can't do hands-on diagnosis. Most physicians these days order various lab tests based on external symtoms and derive their conclusions from the lab results rather than hands on diagnosis. It all started because of malpratice law suits resulting from few wrong diagnosis. Now nobody wants to take risk and avoid making any diagnosis until lab results are available. He says art of clinical diagnosis will soon be thing of a past in USA. I can imagine a day when I visit a doctor he will feed my medical history and illness symtoms to a google like tool and read out the diagnosis.
	() Thanks