Has anybody else been following the Google+ craze over the last couple of days? The excitement level has been reaching a fever pitch with the tech-geek population of the web dipping into what seems eerily similar to a fanatical/religious response.
Which, incidentally, it seems carries a similar vibe as Steve Job's i-craze.
When Google has everybody roped in, (and with the clever marketing of Google+ it looks like this is the goal), they will have achieved vast, centralized control over personal information, personal opinions, personal everything. Anonymity in Google-land will become an instantly revokable privilege no longer in the control of the individual but rather in the hands of Google. This will, and already is, leading to a mode of social dialogue where people find themselves self-censoring their words and thoughts to match the same kind of Google-ish behavior set I've noted in Apple devotees; A glassy-eyed, Authority Knows Best kind of smiling acquiescence to corporate fascism.
If anybody wanted to cast a mind-control spell over an entire planet, they could do a lot worse than to launch a service like Google+.
Here's how the marketing appears to work. . .
Google built a new, prettier and more slick Facebook. Then they offered limited memberships for which only a few select and successful (read, "cool") people made the grade. This created the sense in the world that there was an exclusive party to which most people were not invited, thus instantly turning Google+ into a hot commodity via well-worn herd instinct buttons.
Secondly, those lucky few are able to extend invites to others within their personal circles, (Google+ is all about the circles. Same thought pattern as their marketing.) Those people are thus placed in power positions where they can feel special, like the nerd who comes to school one day with the box of candy, who everybody suddenly wants to befriend. -But they'd better spend that candy quick, because every other special nerd also has a box of candy, creating a race to hand out the treats while they are still worth something. Gotta capitalize on your popularity while it lasts!
And Kablooie. Google+ suddenly has tens of millions of members almost overnight. Geometric growth combined with herd instincts combined with good old personal insecurities ingrained during Jr. Highschool? Genius marketing!
And what is the result?
Well now. . , Google comes that much closer to owning and having the ability to track and record every personal interaction of everybody, everywhere. Google is not just a search engine; it's an information vacuum which is endlessly hungry to know everything about everyone.
As Google collects more companies, offers more services, lulls everybody into using it, then disconnecting yourself becomes increasingly difficult. Consider: If you offend Google in one area, you risk being ejected in every area; you can currently have your Gmail account suspended, your ability to post to YouTube suspended, if you are a company, your ability to advertise on Google suspended. What else can they suspend? How about all your Cloud Applications and associated data? All Google next has to do is link up with Paypal and Amazon, (and by proxy, the IMDB and eBay) and they will effectively be able to divide people into the happy dreamers inside, and those out in the toxic wastes.
Instinct is such that people will want to remain inside, smiling placidly at one-another, accepting lies, with the quiet program running in the background of their minds, "Do not say or think anything outside the box, and I'll be able to remain with the herd."
Consider an entire planet throbbing to that vibration.
Total planetary control, indeed!
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